Gwevin Collection
by TheRantDragon
Summary: Ben 10: Alien Force. A collection of Gwen/Kevin oneshots and drabbles, varying in genre and rated K-T. Also individual character oneshots and drabbles. Please RxR.
1. I Care

**Disclaimer- I don't own Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**This is my first attempt at some Gwevin. This is really just some practice, so sorry if it's OOC, I'm trying my best, I'm not totally used to writing characters like Kevin.  
**

**Title: I Care**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: K+**

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Kevin was still pissed.

It had been hours since the incident...since that _rat _had stolen his car, but he was still seething. That little rodent had gone one step too far this time; he wouldn't be forgiven. From now on, he was an enemy, and Kevin would kick butt and ask questions later.

Kevin's face was covered in grease and transmission fluid. He'd been hours fixing up the wrecked vehicle. Gwen had joined him as first, sitting in the chair she so often occupied, but after awhile had grown weary of sitting and left. He didn't even know why she took her valuable time away sitting in the musty garage with him, as more often than not, she would have a book in her lap or a very bored expression.

Gwen.

She'd stopped him from murdering that pathetic Argit. He'd nearly beaten the cowering figure lying on the asphalt before him, and he would have had she not intervened.

"You'll regret it later!" she'd told him, standing in his path. With her between him and his intended target, there was no question whether he would fight Argit or not. He'd stared into her eyes for a long time, having a silent argument with her before he'd turned from her and the whimpering vermin.

"He's not worth my time" he'd spat and slammed the car door on both their faces.

Kevin grit his teeth as he wiped his greasy hands on a handkerchief. He shouldn't have slammed the door in her face like that, regardless of how angry he'd been.

Sighing, he dropped the kerchief on the table and opened the driver's side door, getting in and closing it behind him. He wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel and just sat there for a long time, thinking.

He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice Gwen come into the garage, and nearly jumped out of his skin when she bent down next to his window.

"Are you _still _here?" she asked in exasperation, ignoring his glare of reproach. He grunted in response and she sighed, making her way to the other side of the car. She got in and closed the door behind her.

Silence.

"Why are you here, Gwen?" he asked, hands dropping into his lap as he stared out the windshield.

"I came to check on you."

He glanced at the clock

"At 10:30 p.m.?", he asked curiously, peering over at her. She seemed embarrassed and looked away from him.

"You've been so...obsessive and angry today. I wanted to see if you were okay." she murmured, fingers fiddling in her lap.

"M'fine." he mumbled, eyebrows furrowing together."But I can't say the same for Argit. Next time I see that little rat, I'm gonna--".

"Kevin, please, don't!" Gwen suddenly raised her voice, turning to him with wide green eyes. "Don't do something stupid. Something you'll regret, I know you will....".

He sighed frustratedly and ran a hand through his hair before clutching at the steering wheel again. When he spoke, it was through gritted teeth.

"He stole my car, Gwen!".

"Is that all you care about!?"

Kevin was taken aback by her sudden outburst. He frowned and turned his wide brown eyes in her direction. There were no tears sparkling in her eyes, but it looked as though there should have been. He vaguely noted that he'd never actually seen her cry, and wondered if she would.

"Well?" she demanded, turning her whole body toward him in her seat.

"I--" he stammered out.

"Is that all you care about? Your car?" she continued. Her voice was back to it's normal, calm level, but it still had an air of sterness and anger to it.

"No, Gwen, I--".

"Oh right. Yourself. That's something you care about." she added, crossing her arms over her chest. Kevin felt anger bubbling in his stomach. How could she sit here and accuse him of such selfishness? He cared about more than just the car and himself. He cared about--

"I have to go." she said in same frustratingly calm voice, reaching for the door handle.

"Gwen, wait!" he said desperately, grabbing her arm before she could move. She turned back towards him with a frown on her face and her brows unknitted. He released her arm, then looked down nervously.

_I can't believe I'm gonna say this..._

"Gwen, I....care about more than just my car....or myself.", he added, looking slightly hurt. She looked like she felt bad for accusing him of that last part, but he continued before she could apologize. "I care about my car so much because...well, it's something I never had to steal. I bought it myself, and I got my liscense myself. It's mine, you know?".

"I'm sorry, Kevin, I--" she began, reaching a hand up for his face, but he grabbed the hand before it reached it's destination.

"But I care about other things too. Including me. If I didn't I wouldn't exactly be sitting her talking to you, would I?" he asked, trying to ease some of the tension. She smiled at him, and he suddenly lost his courage and turned away from her, dropping her hand.

"Look, Gwen, I'm not so great at expressing the feelings so....".

"Oh...".

Silence.

"Goodnight, Kevin" she whispered to him, and quite unexpectedly leaned over and kissed his cheek. His hand involuntarily came up to touch the area before he replied, as if in a trance.

"Goodnight, Gwen..." he managed to get out before she'd shut the car door. He watched her retreating form from the rearview mirror, and once he was sure she was gone, he brought his head down forcefully on the steering wheel.

"I care about you, Gwen! I care about you. UGH! Why can't I say it to her face?" he yelled out.

His forehead slipped down and landed on the horn.

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**Please RxR...I guess.  
**


	2. Worth It

**Disclaimer- Don't own Alien Force.**

**This is just a little drabble based on the scene from "Darkstar Rising", where Gwen and Kevin almost kiss. It's one of my all time favorite scenes, and not just because of the almost kiss. I love that Kevin just throws himself in front of her and takes that blow. (Plus, I always thought it was so cool that when Kevin takes a lot of beating, his "armor" will start to crack and fall off).**

**Title: Worth It**

**Genre: General/Romance/Action**

**Rating: K+**

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"And what makes you think I'm still helping you guys anyway?" he asked irritably, tossing the ball bearing back into the little bag of marbles. Maybe if he absorbed the whole bag at once...but what did it matter? He wasn't helping them anymore anyway.

Unexpectedly, Gwen reached for his hand, the one covered in stainless steel. Kevin frowned and let the covering fade from it so that he could feel her warm skin against his.

"Because. You've changed."

"Maybe." he said, looking away from her piercing green eyes. "But I'm still on parole." He let his fingers wrap securely around one of her hands."That Magister can put me back in that Null Void anytime he wants."

He faced her again and their eyes locked. She didn't say anything else, and he found he had nothing left to say either. It felt like they were sitting there for hours, just looking into each others eyes, having some sort of silent connection. Then she was leaning forward, and his usually dormant heart skipped a beat. He moved forward too, his lips parting slightly, then--

_BOOM!_

They both whipped their heads around in shock, the moment lost.

"Human, scum! I will cleanse the world of your filth!".

He pulled his hand from hers and stood up to face the infiltrating Highbreed.

"Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop fighting monsters!" he said in disgust, placing his hand on the front of his car to absorb the green metal. He heard the sound of Gwen getting ready for battle, mana gathering in her hands.

The Highbreed pushed his way through the hole he had created in the wall and stood towering before them. Gwen's eyes widened.

"It's a Highbreed! Ben says they're too strong for us to fight!."

"Well, Ben ain't here!" he offered in defiance. He ran for the creature and crouched low, letting his fingers slide across the cool garage floor to absorb the concrete instead. Launching himself into the air, he delivered to hefty punches to the Highbreed, but was appalled to see it had hardly phased him.

The alien delivered him a stunning kick that sent him through the air in spirals, and he felt his body collide with the top of his car, banging his head against the metal.

_Not the car..._he thought briefly as spots swam in his eyes. The blow hadn't hurt him so much as knocked him silly, and he felt stunned for a few brief moments.

He heard a gasp from Gwen and then the audible sound of the Highbreed beating against one of her mana shields.

_Come on, Kevin, get up!_

He could hear the shield cracking.

_You gotta help Gwen!_

"That won't save you, human!". Crack. The shield was gone.

_GET UP!_

He slid off the car hood and rolled over top of her with lightening speed.

The fist collided right between his shoulder blades, and even with the concrete shell around him, the breath left him completely. The armor began to crumble off of his body as he felt his strength leaving him, and he was almost positive that if he hadn't had the concrete on himself, it would have broken his back in two.

He saw Gwen staring up at him with horror, then his eyes closed and the concrete fell away completely. He had enough consciousness left to feel her warm hands on his face, and he had one more brief thought before he faded into oblivion.

_It was worth it._

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**Please RxR I guess....  
**


	3. It's Lame!

**Disclaimer- Don't own Alien Force.**

**Okay, I promise I'll do something in Gwen's POV soon, but Kevin's POV intrigues me a bit more. I'll also write some of my own devices soon, but I also like to examine how the characters act and what they might've been thinking....plus it's an excuse to watch my favorite Gwevin moments over again!**

**Anyway, this is based on the episode "What Are Little Girl's Made Of?". **

**Title: It's Lame**

**Genre: Angst/General/Romance**

**Rating: K+**

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He hated Verdona.

He glared at her from his quiet position on the couch. He watched as she tried to persuade Gwen into leaving them...into leaving _him_. It made anger and--was it fear?--broil together in the pit of his stomach.

He was angry at Verdona, but fearful that Gwen would choose to leave....and then what would he do? Continue fighting without her? It just wouldn't seem right.

He watched as Gwen consulted her parents, and he felt hope leap in his stomach--maybe they would tell her no?--but it quickly faded from him when they told her it was _her _choice.

He knew it was her choice...but what about the people around her, the people who cared about her? What would he--they, do when she left...probably forever?

The fear and anger was threatening to burst from him at any moment, but he just settled himself further into the soft couch, crossing his arms over his chest and breathing in deeply. There was no way he was about to lay his feelings out on a silver platter for everyone to see.

She ran from the room.

It startled him out of his thoughts, and he jumped to his feet immediately, chasing after her up the steps to her room. He heard Ben excusing himself as well, but didn't stop to wait for the boy. When he reached Gwen's room, she wasn't there.

But her window was open.

He sighed inwardly and hoisted himself out the window. Luckily the top of the roof wasn't far above, and he managed to pull himself up without too much effort.

Sure enough, she was there, sitting on the edge of the roof, looking down solemnly at her lap. He pulled himself up next to her.

"You would go up on the roof. Some of us can't fly you know."

"Dude, be supportive!" Ben said, pulling himself over the roof as well and positioning himself on the opposite side.

"This is not how I expected my day to go..." she sighed.

"Still it's pretty cool to find out about your powers, right?" Ben asked, ever the optomistic one. Kevin listened with a frown on his features. "Grandma can teach you to do all that stuff she can do."

"I'd be gone for a long time, I guess..." she murmured, and then Kevin felt sick to his stomach.

"Probably forever..." he managed to say, not looking at either her or Ben as they continued to talk.

She'd be gone forever. He'd never get to see her again...never fight by her side again. The one person who'd shown him affection and caring in a long time, and who brought out emotions he hadn't experienced in ages...or had never experienced at all. The person who'd first believed that he'd changed for the better....the one person that had made him truly w_ant _to change for the better...for her.

"...when I was trying to decide to use my powers again", Ben was saying,"you told me it was my choice. That's all I'm saying."

Kevin remained silent, feeling disgusted with Ben. How could he just let her go like that? Didn't he care?

"Anyway, maybe you owe it to yourself to try turning into a cosmic mana master?" he finished, smiling at her.

"Maybe...".

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity."

_Stop encouraging her!_ Kevin thought bitterly. He was being selfish, but he didn't care.

"Kevin?"

He was startled out of his silent rage by her addressing him. She turned her green eyes to him, and he felt that if she left, it would be like having a gaping wound in his side, one that would never heal.

"Do you feel the same way?" she asked curiously.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before responding. He couldn't stop himself from saying just what he thought.

"No! Why would you even think about it?" he asked angrily. "I want you around! The whole thing's lame!!".

He turned his attention back to his lap, and was completely shocked when her arms suddenly wrapped around his neck and her soft lips pressed against the area near his ear in one quick movement. She pulled away before he had time to do anything more than smile goofily and bring his hand up absently to his cheek.

"Lame!" he called after regaining his composure, turning quickly as she made her way off the roof. He wanted to grind it into her head just how much he wanted her to stay. "Lame! LAME!"

Once she was gone, he couldn't help but smile that goofy smile again....completely forgetting that Ben was there. Kevin quickly regained his composure, but the damage was done. Ben shook his head with his brow arched and sighed.

"Lame."

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**Haha, of course I just added that last part. I could see it having happened though, lol. Also, Gwen obviously IS one of the main reasons Kevin has changed. He pretty much says so himself in "Darkstar Rising" when he's talking about his dad and says to Gwen "It's the reason I decided to help you guys in the first place...*stares at Gwen*...mostly." Please RxR.  
**


	4. Changed

**Disclaimer- Don't own Alien Force.**

**Eh, probably not my best, but I just wanted to give Gwen's POV a shot with one of my favorite episodes "Kevin's Big Score". This one skips around a bit, I didn't want to go through every second of the episode, yah know? Just the Gwevin bits.**

**Also, I'm so sorry, but I can't help it! Everytime Gwen tracks Kevin with that handkerchief and it floats like right in front of her nose, I always think "She's totally smelling it". XD**

**Title: Changed**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: K+**

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**

"That whole summer was incredible, remember Gwen? Hero time all the time, Kevin was still a _bad guy_!" Ben called jokingly over his shoulder with a smug grin on his face.

"Let it go, Tennyson!" came Kevin's muffled reply from beneath the Rust Bucket. Gwen smirked at their antics as Kevin pushed himself out into view. "I know you're here to keep an eye on me...".

What for? He had changed, he wasn't going to do anything. Besides, even if he _did_--and he wouldn't--Gwen could take care of herself. She smiled down at him as he wiped his face off with a handkerchief.

"It's sweet that you wanted to fix up Rust Bucket 2".

He smiled back at her, then proceeded to lower the Rust Bucket back to ground level as she slid the picture of her, Ben, and Grandpa Max back into the old box. That box held some of the best memories of her life. She closed the lid gently and was just about to return to it's place of safe keeping when Kevin slid up in front of her, blocking her path to the old vehicle.

"Not yet." he said, giving her a charming smile, then he pulled himself into the Rust Bucket and shut the door. Ben's voice floated after him.

"Still not buying the nice guy act, Kevin."

"_Ben_..." she reproached, glaring over her shoulder at him. Why couldn't he just accept that Kevin had changed, that he was a better person now, and long gone were the days when he was Ben's enemy. He'd done his time in the Null Void, and that was enough for her.

"Okay, I'm gonna try the engine!" she heard Kevin call from the inside, and she and Ben waited intently to see if his hard work had paid off.

It worked, although quite a lot of black exhaust billowed out of the tail pipe.

"Go, Kevin!" Ben called excitedly, holding out a thumbs up. Gwen rolled her eyes. How quick he could go from not buying his "nice guy act" to giving him a thumbs up.

She was shocked when Ben suddenly wrapped his arms around her and pushed both of them to the ground as the Rust Bucket's tires squealed and pulled out of the grass.

"Come back, Kevin!" Ben called angrily as the vehicle pulled away from them at an alarmingly fast rate.

"Ben!"

But he was already turning the Omnitrix and slapping it down. A giant moth looking creature took his place, claiming himself to be called Big Chill. He was off after the stolen motor home before Gwen could say anything else on the matter.

She was momentarily stunned as she turned back to the upturned lawn chairs and covering. Surely Kevin had a good reason for doing this? He wouldn't do this, he'd changed....right? She pulled herself up to her feet and made her way over to a box turned on it's side, the contents spilled.

It was the box of pictures she had previously been examining. She bent down and scooped them all up, happy to see that none of them had been permanently damaged, just covered in dirt and grass. She brushed them off, put them back in their holding case, and picked up a lawn chair, carefully putting the box on it for the time being.

Then Gwen turned back to the scene of the crime...no, not a crime. Just part of a plan. This was all apart of some sort of plan, she was sure of it. As she told herseld this, she spotted a dirty white handkerchief lying in the ruined grass, and picked it up, examining the grease stains and realizing it was Kevin's. His mana was definately all over it.

It was a soft piece of cloth, and she rubbed her fingers over it absently before tucking it safely into her pocket. She didn't know why she put it there, but she felt better now that it was there.

She conjured up some mana platforms and set off in pursuit of Ben in pursuit of Kevin.

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Surprisingly, it didn't take Gwen long to catch up. She could see Ben standing in the road just ahead of her, and picked up her pace, wondering what had happened.

"He got away" he said bitterly as she let her feet become one with the ground again.

"Woah..." she smiled in awe, staring down the road. That was...impressive. It took some guts and skill to get away from Ben when he was on the chase. She realized she was oogling and quickly changed her attitude. "I mean, oh no!".

"How could I have let my gaurd down!?" he went on bitterly, striding away from her."He's a liar and a theif!".

Ben's accusations strangely stung, and she felt the need to defend Kevin. After all, this was all part of some plan or other, right?

"That was the old Kevin. He's different now, and we're different, too.".

Meaning they didn't just go around assuming the worst of their new ally. She fished around in her pocket and pulled out his old handkerchief. For some reason it felt like some sort of comfort to her.

"I can track him from this." she told her angry cousin. He stared at her.

"You kept his sweaty handkerchief?" he asked in exasperation, sounding as though he thought she were mad.

Why _had _she kept it? Tracking Kevin with it was just a spur of the moment thing, not something she'd thought of beforehand. It was just an insignificant cloth that he used to wipe the grease off his face...and probably sweat. Who wanted to keep something that smelled like sweat and car grease? And yet...

She turned away from Ben and focused on the mana around the handkerchief, letting it float just in front of her face. The scent it held was nice, and though it did hold the remnants of sweat and grease...it was strangely appealing. She let the cloth fall back into her hand and gripped it, a determined smile crossing her features.

"Got him."

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Gwen had been right.

It was just a part of his plan....to get what, she wasn't quite sure, but he'd said it was important, and she believed him. Ben...not so much.

"Yeah, important to you!" he'd snarled.

Now they were in that deserted alleyway fighting with Argit. He'd just knocked out all but one of Ben's Echo Echo clones, and she let mana build in her hands as she prepared to strike him.

"Watch out!" she heard Kevin shout, and for a moment, she was apalled. Why was he helping the enemy? Had she been wrong about his plan...?

"Don't warn him!" she said angrily, then looked back at the strange rat alien to see quills shooting out of his back. Kevin barreled into her from the side and held her against the wall. He looked down at her with his deep brown eyes full of concern.

"Not him. You."

Gwen felt a strange sense of dizziness coming over her as she replied with a small "oh" of recognition. Kevin's eyes suddenly rolled and then he fell over as though someone had knocked him out. She was about to fret over him, but then felt her own body give out as she fell over into unconcsiousness.

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x

They had finally come to, and now they were questioning the alien.

"I'll give it to ya straight!" Argit said nastily, turning his face to Kevin. "You cannot trust that man!"

"Me?" Kevin asked in indignation as he glared down at the vermin.

"Do you know what he was gonna do?" Argit went on, clearly thinking he would get on their good side by blaming Kevin and making himself look innocent. "Steal your motor home and sell it to another criminal! Thank goodness I stopped him!"

"By stealing it yourself!" Kevin countered angrilly, looking murderous.

"Yeah...yeah, I may be a crook, but this guy's no good! You can't trust him! He'll stab you in the back just for laughes!"

"Thanks, buddy."

"This creep's got a point" Ben said suddenly, and Gwen was shocked. How could Ben trust someone like Argit over Kevin?

"You're always up to something" her cousin continued."Self-serving, shifty, always working some kind of angle. Always a thief."

The two of them were staring each other down now, and Gwen was afraid she might have to step inbetween them. She didn't like the way Ben was accusing Kevin. He'd changed...he was different, why _couldn't _her cousin just accept that!?

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"You know what, Tennyson!? I don't have to explain myself to you!" he yelled. He turned away from the brunette and stomped toward her, and for a moment she thought he might yell at her as well. But he simply leaned in close to her, his voice low but stern. "Or you, either."

"I'm done with both of you!".

She watched helplessly as he walked off.

He was gone.

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She was sure it was him.

Even with the green crystle all over his entire being, she still recognized that solemn face staring helplessly at her. He was completely imobile and defenseless, cuffed to the floor on his hands and knees. The look on his face tugged at her heartsrtings.

"Kevin!"

She rushed over to his hulking figure and used her mana powers to bust open the cuffs around his wrists. They seemed pretty useless to her; she didn't think he could move even if he wanted to.

"You alright?" she asked breathlessly with concern. How could anyone do something like this to him? She let her hands come up to touch the smooth, hard surface of his face. she didn't quite how she did it, but she concentrated hard with her powers, and he began to revert back to normal, shrinking back to is normal size.

The hard crystle beneath her palms returned to the wam softness of his flesh. His shirt was ripped to shreds, and he tilted his head to the side tiredly. He let out a tired moan and fell forward, burying his face in her shoulder and wrapping his arms around her. She was surprised at first, but she returned the hug, her ear pressed against his hair.

After a moment he released her and tried to stand up. She grabbed him to help steady him, vaguely registering the flash of green that meant Big Chill had become Ben again.

"Easy" she said soflty to Kevin as they finally got to their feet. He looked like he might fall over again at any second. his hand was on her shoulder and the other was holding one of her small hands. He didn't immediately let go, and their eyes locked.

He seemed to be silently thanking her for continuing to believe in him, for not thinking he'd gone back over to the bad side. She smiled warmly at him for what felt like ages.

_I knew you'd changed...I knew it._

**x0x0x0x0x0x0**

**RxR? Please?  
**


	5. Meanwhile

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Wow this took me forever. It's so random and it didn't really have much of a point, so I didn't know where to go with it. Anyway, this is a take on what I think could've possibly taken place with Gwen and Kevin during Ben and Julie's date in "Pier Pressure". I always wondered if they hung out after dropping them off and continuing down the road...**

**Title: Meanwhile...(or "Ice Cream")**

**Genre: General**

**Rating: K+**

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"Why did you do that?"

The dark road was completely deserted apart from the occasional lone car passing by on the opposite side. He didn't exactly know where they were going now that Ben and Julie were gone...perhaps he was just stalling for some time with her. Then again, it also seemed pointless to just drop them off and go straight back home; what a waste of gas and mileage!

He glanced at her with his peripheral vision. Gwen was glaring at him with furrowed brows of disappointment.

"Do what?" he asked innocently. She huffed in an annoyed sort of way and he smiled smugly.

"You know exactly what. Do you have any idea how long it took me to persuade him into asking her out?"

"Hey, it's not my problem Ben's a chicken when it comes to girls." he said, shrugging his broad shoulders. She mumbled something that he couldn't quite hear, and he turned his head completely for a moment.

"What?"

"I said, Ben's not the only one who's chicken."

Kevin frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, just the fact that you're too scared to ask me out." she said in a completely nonchalant voice. She may as well have been commenting on the weather. Kevin rolled his eyes skyward.

_Oh boy, here we go again..._

He snorted in a mocking way and adjusted his position so that only one hand was on the steering wheel.

"I'm not chicken."

"Could have fooled me."

Silence prevailed after that, and his eyebrows knitted together in agitation. What did she want from him? He didn't know the first thing about girls, what with having spent quite a long period in the Null Void, and before that he had been a delinquent on the streets...not much time for ladies.

He slowed down the vehicle as they entered a small town.

He wracked his brains as they pulled up to a stoplight. All he knew was that guys usually took girls to fancy places to eat on dates. He didn't exactly have enough money to take her to a place like that...He glanced around at the restaurants surrounding them, but none of them seemed quite up to par.

"Green."

"Huh?"

"The light's green."

"Oh."

Feeling embarrassed, he pushed down on the gas pedal, thankful that there hadn't been anyone behind him to honk their horns impatiently.

_Think, Kevin. Just something simple..._

"Gwen?"

"Hmm?" she asked absently, looking out the window with her head in her hand. He cleared his throat in a nervous sort of way.

"Do you want some ice cream or something?"

He glanced at her again. She had turned toward him, looking a little on the surprised side, but then the surprise slowly faded and turned into a small smile.

"That'd be nice."

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His demeanor was calm and relaxed as they sat in the car licking idly on ice cream cones. His arm was dangling outside the open window, and cool spring air caressed both their faces at random intervals. She couldn't help but admire how the wind would waft his unique scent in her direction.

She caught him glancing over at her sometimes. She had to repress a smirk as he drummed his fingers against the side of the car in a nervous manner.

_At least he's trying..._she thought, trying not to laugh.

"So, what do you think Ben and Julie are doing?" he asked randomly, obviously attempting to start some conversation. Gwen shrugged.

"No idea. I'm sure we'll find out soon though." she replied, taking a bite out of the side of her cone.

"Huh....what makes you think he's going to tell us anything?" he asked, stuffing the last half of the entire cone into his mouth. It was too much for him, and she rolled her eyes as some vanilla ice cream ran down his chin.

"Charming."

He gave her a sort of sheepish look and wiped at it with his hands.

"Maybe he won't tell _you_ anything, but he'll tell me." she went on, turning to hide her amused smile from him. She heard him chewing intently for a bit, then he swallowed hard and said "ow" as the bits of unchewed cone scraped at his throat.

"And you're special in this way, because...?" he asked, rubbing at his throat.

"Well, because obviously I won't make fun of him like _some people_." she accused pointedly, thrusting her head in his direction and raising an eyebrow of annoyance. Kevin only smirked and leaned back against his chair, letting one hand rest on the steering wheel.

"Guess you got a point there."

"Sadly..." she muttered, finishing off the last of her ice cream and leaning against her chair as well. There was a long silence.

"Suppose we should get Ben and Julie." he murmured almost to himself, but she grabbed his wrist to stop him from turning the key in the ignition.

"They'll get home." she said, not immediately letting go of him. He looked down at her hand with furrowed brows of confusion before he slumped back against the seat.

More silence followed.

She couldn't seem to pluck up the courage to ask him...she wanted to know whether this was supposed to be just friends getting ice cream or perhaps....perhaps a feeble attempt at asking her out. But she couldn't bring herself to do it, and the moon was beginning to rise as they talked of random things.

Finally, she knew they had to go, and she didn't stop him this time when he started the car. It was funny how accustomed she'd become to it; she'd spent more time in this car than any other car in her life, and yet Kevin hadn't been helping them for so long...

"Gwen?"

She hadn't realized they were already at her house, so lost had she been in her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry." she mumbled in apology, grabbing her purse from the floor board and popping the door open. "Thanks, Kevin....for the ice cream."

"No problem." he answered casually. So casually, that all the confidence faded from Gwen and she couldn't bring herself to ask him; his voice told her everything. It had just been a "friends" thing, nothing more, nothing less.

"I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Yep."

She went to bed that night feeling a strong sense of disappointment in her stomach.

But what she didn't know was that when Kevin pulled into his garage that night, he slammed his head down on the steering wheel in disappointment and cursed at himself.

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Damn that teen angst and drama. Please RxR.  
**


	6. Trust Fall

**Disclaimer- Do not own Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Yeeeah. The title is kinda based off that stupid Avatar: The Last Airbender book thing that came out recently. A "trust fall" was mentioned.**

**Title: Trust Fall**

**Genre: General**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0  
**

In the heat of battle, she couldn't quite remember how she'd come to be on the rooftops of the houses surrounding the place of battle. All she knew was that Ben and Kevin were fighting below her, and DNAliens, drueling and ugly as ever, were advancing on her.

She threw energy blasts at them and managed to send two of them crashing back to the earth below. She threw up a shield as they spit goop at her, taking a step back as she did so.

"Gwen!"

She didn't need Kevin's shout to realize that the shingles where slipping out from beneath her feet. Thinking quickly, she conjured a platform behind her and stepped onto it just in time: the shingles fell off with crashing and shattering noises, and she hoped Kevin nor Ben had been underneath them.

"Surrender, human!" came one of the aliens scratchy threats as it sucked in a huge breath. She put up another shield in time to see it splatter against the pink in front of her; but the other aliens had taken breathes, too. Her shield wouldn't be able to take that many in succession.

"Gwen, drop!!"

Kevin could have meant anything really. Crouch down on the platform, create another platform below and fall onto it instead...but she didn't do either of those. Without so much as another thought, she removed the platform from beneath her feet and fell.

She heard the shield crack on her way down to the ground, orange hair whipped up and around her face and her eyes shut tight against the cold wind rushing past her...what if she had done the wrong thing?

She let out a grunt that mingled with his as he caught her. Pulling out a stray strand of hair from her mouth, she place a hand on his chest and looked up at him. His face was in it's usual passive expression, but she could not miss the concern and care that seemed to radiate from his dark brown eyes.

"Thanks" she said, keeping her eyes locked to his. A smile came across his features.

"No problem..."

Was it just her, or had he maybe sort of tilted his head toward her? Perhaps if she just moved hers forward, too...

"Guys!" came Humongosaur's desperate call as DNAliens swarmed him, and their heads snapped in his direction. Kevin gave her another quick smile before rushing forward, absorbing the red brick house next to them so that he now appeared as a mixture of dark and light reds.

Smiling to herself, though her insides writhed in disappointment at the interruption, she followed the pursuit of the boy she would trust her life with, even if nobody else would.

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Yeah, totally random.....Please RxR.  
**


	7. Take My Hand

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**This randomly popped into my head yesterday, not quite sure why...**

**There will be a sequel to this, so be on the lookout for it.**

**Title: Take My Hand (or something....god, I can't even think of a title! DX)**

**Genre: General**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0xx0x0  
**

It was a sunny, warm day. The sun was at it's peak, high in the sky, the warm rays beating down on the inhabitants and guests alike.

Kevin sat on hot sand Indian style, head propped on one hand as he watched the huge waves crashing down. He shook his head and looked down at the blue surfboard laying beside him, absorbing the sun's rays.

Before he had stared at it for more than a few moments, he heard laughter behind him and turned to look. Gwen and Ben were walking toward him, both with their own surf boards tucked under their arms and a third person following behind them. He was a younger male, around Gwen's age, and as the boy made Gwen laugh, he couldn't help it that his insides began to boil.

Of course he was a pretty boy, why _wouldn't _the surfing instructor be a pretty boy?

"Off your butt, Kevin, we're surfing!" Ben said enthusiastically, slamming his board upright into the sand. Pretty Boy walked forward and held out a hand.

"Hi, I'm Ronjon." he said, smiling and holding out his hand. Kevin didn't return the smile, and shook his hand perhaps more roughly than normal.

"Kevin" he murmured, releasing Pretty Boy's hand. The sandy haired male winced.

"Hard grip....alright then!" he said suddenly, clapping his hands together. "Let's get started, shall we?"

Ben let out a whoop, but Kevin furrowed his brows and shook his head.

"Uh, you guys go ahead" he heard Gwen say to Ronjon, and a moment later Ben and Pretty Boy walked out of Kevin's sight and into the deep blue waters ahead. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Gwen sit down in the sand next to him, sucking in a breath as the hot sand burned her exposed legs momentarily.

A cool ocean breeze caressed their faces, carrying with it the scent of salt.

"What's wrong?" she asked him with concern, moving forward to get a glimpse of his face.

"I just...don't want to surf." he finished lamely, shrugging his shoulders, never taking his eyes off the massive waves.

"Hmm..." she murmured, and he knew she didn't believe him. He decided he might as well tell her the truth.

"I'm...uh...afraid of the ocean." he mumbled in an embarrassed tone, turning his head away from her in shame. He thought she must think him weak. He was an ex-con who'd been to the Null Void, and he was afraid of something as simple as the ocean.

He wouldn't have blamed her if she laughed.

But she didn't. She merely looked puzzled.

"I've seen you swim before, at the lake...?" she began, but trailed off when he shook his head again, finally gaining the courage to face her.

"It's not that I can't swim, Gwen. I _can _swim, but....the ocean is...different."

She cocked a brow in question, and he sighed loudly. This girl was just trying to kill him via embarrassment, wasn't she?

"It's...big." he said, staring with trepidation at the pounding waves. He saw several surfers fall of their boards and a few casual swimmers get thrust toward the shore.

There was an extremely long silence, in which the only noises around them were the laughter of beach goers, the calls of the seagulls, and the waves breaking against the shore. Then, quite abruptly, Gwen got to her feet and held out a hand. He pulled his head back in surprise.

"C'mon" she said with a gentle smile. He furrowed his brows.

"But I've just told you I--"

"I know, Kevin, but that's exactly why we're here. To _learn_ and try something new. We'll get you used to the water before you try anything else, okay?" she said, pushing his surfboard toward him with her toes. He still looked a little wary. "Or you could just not surf anyway, it really doesn't matter" she added hastily at the look on his face; perhaps surfing today would be too much for him.

For a moment he just sat there, staring at her hand, then he finally grabbed it and his surfboard and hoisted himself up, brushing sand of his black trunks.

"You can leave that here for a bit" she said, pointing to the surfboard with a triumphant smirk. Frowning, he reluctantly dropped the board back into the coarse sand below their feet. She grabbed his hand.

"You don't need a board right now. Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you" she said, tugging him toward the shoreline. He wondered for a moment whether she was mocking him or not, but finally a smile tugged at his lips as she pulled him toward the water.

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0**

**Lawl, I took the name Ronjon from the stupid kid on the Avatar episode "The Beach" XD. Anyway, there's a sequel about them actually surfing, so be looking for that soon. Please RxR.  
**


	8. It Only Takes a Moment

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**This is based on the first episode of Alien Force, and more specifically the scene where Gwen puts her hand on Kevin's shoulder and they just share that _look_. I hope I didn't get his thoughts a little too deep.**

**Also, title reminds me of Wall-E. :3**

**Title: It Only Takes a Moment**

**Genre: General**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0  
**

Kevin had had another successful day.

He entered the house with a smug grin on his face, slamming the door shut behind him with his foot. He strode into the kitchen and obtained a soda from the fridge before popping it open and sitting at the table. He took a long swig, set it down and pulled something out of his pocket.

It was a big stack of money.

The smirk widening, he leaned back in the chair and leafed through it. Yet another tech deal sealed, and it would take place tomorrow, where he would also collect the rest of his money.

He couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he drank more soda, thinking how he'd had nothing but luck since his departure from the Null Void. An unsuspected shiver ran through him at the thought of that place.

Nothing was worth going back there, not even money...well, maybe.

Memories of that desolate pocket dimension came pouring into his mind, and a powerful hatred boiled and frothed in his stomach as he thought of the arrogant, cocky little kid who'd gotten him thrown into that place.

_Tennyson_.

He'd vowed revenge if he ever saw Ben again, but so far he hadn't caught wind of the boy. It was either unlucky for Kevin, or lucky for Ben.

Kevin drained the last of his drink and crushed the can, tossing it into the bin on the way out of the kitchen. He pushed the bitter memories out of his mind and instead thought about how sweet that deal was gonna be.

Smiling again, he tramped up the stairs to his room,

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

It was late.

The door opened more slowly this time, and the young man that walked through it was completely different from the one that had entered the day before. He closed the door slowly behind him, and instead of heading for the kitchen, he went for the living room and flopped down in one of the recliners. He pulled out the Plumber's badge he'd stolen from Fish Face and absently fiddled with it.

No longer was he swaggering, smirking and plotting his next tech deal. Now his face was expressionless and his brows were furrowed in confusion.

The days events had not gone as planned.

In one, swift moment, he'd been swindled, and in another, he'd suddenly found himself on the "good guys" side...and he didn't mind.

It wasn't the fact that he was now on something of a friendly term with his enemy, Ben Tennyson, that disturbed him. It wasn't the fact that he'd been cheated out of money by those filthy DNAliens, nor was it that he was no longer a "bad guy".

No. What irked him most of all was Gwen Tennyson.

She didn't even really know him at all. Even back when he'd been a giant, mutant freak, back when he'd till been a sociopath, they'd had very minimum contact. And yet today she'd reached out to him. Literally. She'd actually _touched _him.

She hadn't cringed away or spoke to him harshly or proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him. No, she'd bent down next to him and actually _touched _his shoulder, put her soft hand on his broad shoulder, and spoke calm words of truth.

"_People could get hurt_."

Those words had penetrated him. It shocked him beyond all measure.

He couldn't remember anyone ever reaching out to him in any way, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder or looking him in the eye as they spoke. Not even his mother.

And he couldn't quite explain why, but he suddenly felt bound to her. He felt like he should please her, keep her happy...he'd follow her anywhere, do anything for her.

Even join the "good guys".

Being a "bad guy" was no longer an option, for if he was not with her, he was against her, and that was simply unacceptable.

No. From now on, wherever she went, he went...and he couldn't see his future any other way.

**x0x0x0x00x0x0x0**

**I'm so very sorry for the totally abrupt ending, but I honestly couldn't think of anything else to add or another way to end it! DX Please RxR.  
**


	9. Dust

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Something completely pointless. This hasn't been thoroughly proof read, so sorry if there are any major errors.  
**

**Title: Dust**

**Genre: General**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0  
**

_Ding Dong!_

"I got it!" she called. She drew in a sharp intake of breath as the side of her foot banged against the corner of the bottom step in her hurry. Sucking in a breath of pain, she continued her ascent up the wooden staircase, eyes watering in pain.

One would think that after being tossed around by aliens ten times her size, a tiny cut on the foot would be nothing.

She finally reached the door, panting. She twisted the knob and pulled the door open as she massaged her throbbing foot with the other.

"Took you long enough" said a deep and very familiar voice. Scowling, she tried to push the door back in his face, but he caught it and slid in past her, smirking. His eyes strayed to her foot.

"What--?"

"Hit it on the stairs!" she hissed as a tiny bit of blood oozed from the torn skin. Kevin looked momentarily perplexed.

"But your room is upstairs, and the door is--" he began, pointing to the objects as he explained.

"The laundry room is downstairs" she interrupted, finally dropping her foot to stand up straight. "And it just so happens that _some _of us have laundry to do."

She eyed his shirt and pants, which were covered with grease and grass stains, with disdain.

He frowned as he looked down at himself.

"Ah, that's just cold, Gwen".

"Serves you right." she said, turning quickly on the spot so that her long hair swooshed and he would not see the mirth in her eyes. "Anyway, I'll be right back, stay here."

She rushed up the stairs and returned not long after, stopping at the foot of the steps and peering into her living room, where he was waiting for her in one of the soft chairs just in front of the coffee table.

"Aw, look, a Hello Kitty bandaid." he said, pointing down at her foot. There was a teasing twinkle in his eyes, a twinkle she saw from him all too often. Rolling her eyes, she ignored his completely pointless observation.

"So...what are you here for?" she asked, pointedly directing his attention away from the bandaid. Still smiling, he put his hands behind his head and leaned back against the seat in a casual fasion.

"What, can't a guy just drop in for a visit?"

There was a long pause, then he finally popped one of his eyes open and saw that she was staring at him with one eyebrow raised. He sighed and sat up.

"Okay, okay. I'm here because I got a tip."

She immediately perked up at this, all eyes and ears for what he had to say...not that wasn't always listening to what he had to say, whether it was worth listening to or not.

"Oh?" she inquired.

"Yep."

"DNAliens?"

"Nope."

"Highbreed?"

"Nope."

"Then what?"

"Alien tech."

This threw her for a loop, and she narrowed her eyes, staring hard at him.

"Alien tech?"

"Yeah. I got a tip that there was some tech in this abandoned old tenement building."

"Forget it."

He was obviously taken aback, because he jumped to his feet, holding his hands out in confusion.

"What? Why?"

"I refuse to help you steal alien tech, Kevin" she said, brows knitted together in frustration. It was that one thing that he couldn't seem to let go of, that last shred of the old Kevin that made her so angry at him, because she knew he was better than that...so much better.

"It's not stealing, Gwen!" he said, stepping toward her with a begging tone in his voice. "Nobody's using it anymore, it was just left there! At least come check it out with me!"

"No."

"Fine!" he grunted in frustration. "I'll go alone!"

She heard the door slam behind him, and she felt regret tugging horribly at her heartstrings. What if it turned out to be a trap, and he was all alone? She bit her lip with indescion, then finally her concern for him won out, and she raced over to the door and wrenched it open.

He hadn't reached his car yet.

"Kevin, wait! Fine, I'll go with you!".

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

"You've past Ben's house..."

"So?"

"So, didn't you want him to come, too?"

"Not really."

"Kevin!"

"What!?" he yelped, eyes widening at her sternness.

"It could be a trap!" she protested. He only rolled his eyes and continued to drive, one hand on the steering wheel, the other propping up his head.

"It's not a trap, Gwen."

"How do you know?" she challenged..

"Because I got it from a reliable source. Please just chill."

She glared for a bit before crossing her arms and leaning back against the leather seat, stareing ahead.

"Whatever."

He sighed loudly and then there was more silence, and her mind began to wander. Finally, a smile lit up her face.

"Ooooh, I get it..." she began slowly, looking at him from the corners of her eyes. He frowned.

"Get what?"

"That you just wanted it to be the two of us."

"What!?" he spluttered, sitting up straighter with both hands grasping the wheel. He looked indignant and slightly as though he feared for her sanity, but she did not miss the uncharacteristic faint pink blush on his cheeks. "You're crazy!"

"But you didn't want Ben along."

"Yeah, because it's a small thing, Gwen! I think you and I could take a few DNAliens, don't you?" he asked, still sitting up straight in his seat and clutching th wheel tightly. She wouldn't be surprised if he absorbed some rubber in his indignation.

Deciding she didn't want to upset him further, she relapsed into stony faced silence. In truth, part of her had truly been hoping that that was his plan, for it to just be the two of them. She was beginning to lose hope that he would ever make his move on her.

"Here." came his voice half an hour later, and she looked out the windshield and felt her eyes widen.

"That....looks unsafe."

The only response she got a chuckle and door slam.

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

The sound of two car doors slamming echoed around the area.

"Well, I think that went well."

"You call that _well_?" she asked in a rather high voice, surveying his frame. He was covered from head to foot in a whitish gray dust. She surmised that she probably didn't look much better. A grin split his feature and the effect was oddly humorous as his teeth seemed to glow against the dullness of the dust.

"Yes, I do." was his simple answer and he tossed a box into the back seat, were is clanked loudly before coming to a stop.

"The entire third floor collapsed!"

"Hmmm, guess it did."

She watched as he wiped at his eyes, nose and mouth, trying to rid himself of some of the foul smelling grit. It must have been ages since the place had been cleaned. It was going to take several showers before she could rid herself of the damp, musty smell.

"You're...unbelievable." she said in a slightly agitated tone. He only laughed again and a moment later she felt his fingers on her face. He ran his thumbs down her eyes and cheeks, getting rid of the dust there. She was momentarily shocked, and stared at him.

He suddenly seemed embarrassed by what he'd done and turned back toward the steering wheel. He put the car into gear and backed out in silence, switching on the headlights as they proceeded back down the road they had come.

She stared at him as he drove, and she noticed that he determinedly kept his eyes on the road ahead. It was when they stopped at a red light that she noticed something glistening on his upper arm.

"You're bleeding" she pointed out in a voice that was calm and yet somehow anxious at the same time. He looked down and shrugged before looking back out at the light.

"S'nothin".

"That came from a who knows how old tenement building, Kevin. It might get infected."

He snorted.

"What are you, my mom?"

She sighed and leaned back against the seat, her arms crossed and an "I give up" expression about her features.

"Okay, fine. I don't care anymore. Are you happy?"

He frowned, peering at her sideways as they continued down the street.

"What?"

"I don't care about..." she had been about to say "you", but even though she knew that what she was presently saying to him was entirely untrue, it would kill her to say such a thing out loud. Just the thought of it was insane. "...your cut." she finished lamely. "So are you happy now?"

He appeared to have chosen not to answer, and before she could apologize to him, they'd pulled into her drive. Funny how the time seems to fly on the return trip.

She stared up at the glowing windows and sighed for about the millionth time that night.

"Well, time for the parents...but I guess they shouldn't ask too many questions, seeing as they know what I am and what I do." she said out loud, more for her own benefit than for Kevin.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mention you were with me." he said, finally turning his head to face her, his dark eyes nearly blending in with the darkened inside of the car.

She was perplexed.

"What? Why?"

"I get the feeling they don't approve of me." he said honestly, and though he had a smirk on his face, his eyes betrayed the tiniest hint of regret.

"What makes you say that?" she inquired. Her parents had never shown any hint of dislike toward him, at least not that she'd noticed.

"Well, they think I'm a bad influence, see?"

She punched him on the arm as both their faces crinkled with amusement.

"You _are _a bad influence, but, well, in a sort of good way. If that even makes sense?"

He smiled.

"No sense at all."

They both laughed, and she couldn't stop herself from leaning forward. She had meant for the kiss to be on his cheek, but instead she felt her lips come in contact with his slightly hooked nose. As she pulled away she was barely aware of the terrible old dusty taste on her lips.

Their eyes locked for a while, and then he said in a calm voice.

"Goodnight, Gwen."

"Goodnight, Kevin...and don't expect me to be risking my life for more alien tech anytime soon." she warned as she stepped out of the passenger side.

Yet another smile.

"Of course not."

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Possible sequel soon. Also, the foot thing...yeah, I actually did hit my foot on the stairs a few days ago. Not pleasant. Please RxR.  
**


	10. Power

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10.**

**Sorry for anything wrong in this. I have never actually seen any Ben 10 episode with Kevin in it all the way through, I've only read about his past and powers. This is just a possible way I think things could have happened. Also sorry for any typos, haven't spell checked it, too lazy.  
**

**This story has NO dialogue in it....wow.**

**Title: Power**

**Genre: General**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0**

There was a time when life was good.

He remembered coming home from boring days of school to the occasional smell of something cooking. His mother didn't cook often, but when she did, he immensely enjoyed it.

His mother. He had inherited her pale skin and midnight hair, but nothing else. He assumed he got his slightly hooked nose and eyes and build from his dad, but he never knew his dad. He was never home. Never.

He was never the attentive one when it came to school work. He often dozed in class and got in trouble, but he couldn't care less. He wanted to be outside doing something, not sitting in a hard chair for hours at a time.

Unfortunately, the playground wasn't something he enjoyed much, either. He was a social outcast. No one ever offered to play with him, nor did he much feel inclined to join in their games.

He also got bullied, but he never told anyone. The bigger kids took advantage of his scrawny size, and often their excuse to torture him was that he was a freak, a skinny freak with no dad. He'd try to retaliate, but it was never any good.

One day, he came home with a black eye, the big kids laughter still ringing in his ears. Blood pumped boiling hot through his veins, and he wished for revenge on the kids that had done it to him. When his mother saw the black eye, she assumed he'd been in a fight and scolded him. He sat through the lecture, not listening to a word, but instead thinking of the most gruesome ideas of revenge.

Hours later, he sat alone in his room, an ice pack held to his still throbbing eye. He was doing spelling homework, something he found particularly challenging.

Honestly, how often would he need to actually write the word "kumquat"?"

After awhile he slammed the book shut frustratedly, and at that moment, the single bulb in his room flickered and died. Plunged into darkness, he felt his way slowly to the door and opened it, emerging into the hall.

The kitchen was his destination, and when he got there, he bent down to the little doors beneath the sink and rummaged for a new bulb. When he returned to his room, he left the door wide open so that light would filter in.

Standing on his bed and reaching on tip-toes, he gingerly removed the old bulb and threw it onto the soft mattress below. Now he began screwing in the new one, but a moment later, he yelped aloud and withdrew his hand quickly, falling backwards onto the bed.

The moment the light had hit the new bulb, it had shocked him.

But not in a normal way.

He had actually seen it, then he had felt a tingling all down his arm and then it spread throughout the rest of his body, making him feel suddenly alive with energy. He stared at his fingertips, then looked up questioningly as the brand new light bulb flickered and died.

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

He felt strange all the next day. That same feeling of energy being alive inside him. He needed to expel it, and his foot twitched impatiently as he waited for that sweet, sweet recess bell.

Once it finally did ring, he made his way over the swings and placed a fist around the metal chains. They shocked him, and he drew in a breath, drawing back his hand. Everything metal had been shocking him that day. Weird.

That was when a shadow loomed up behind him, and the hairs on his neck raised; he knew who that shadow belonged to. Sure enough, when he turned around, the usual jerk who bullied him was standing there, a look of utmost disgust on his face.

Kevin barely registered what the bully was saying to him, because a sudden red haze seemed to have obscured his vision. This was the idiot who had given him a black eye, the black eye that everyone had laughed at him for all day.

He deserved that same humiliation, that same ridicule, that same _pain_.

The bully in front of him had finished his tirade of insults, and now his fist was drawn back, and Kevin knew what was coming.

Fury seared through his stomach, and as the fist came toward him, he dodged nimbly to one side. He heard the crack of the bully's knuckles against the wooden swing support, but he barely stopped to take satisfaction in this.

The energy that seemed to have swimming around within his body since the contact with the light bulb was now more prominent that ever, and he felt that tingling in his arm again, except that now it reached all the way to his fingertips.

The bully turned and came for another swing.

Kevin retaliated.

Blinding lights from his hand, the feel of static in the air, and then it was over.

The bully lay on the ground, his face blackened and hair standing on end. It would have been comical if blood weren't trickling out of his ear and the kids around him weren't screaming in horror.

Kevin's eyes widened, and he stared down at his slightly smoking hands.

Had he done that?

He felt depleted of that energy now, back to his normal self. Finally regaining his composure, he looked around and saw that kids were running back towards their teachers, who were rushing to the scene with urgency. Seeing that he wasn't in a great position, he fled, hopping the fence before anyone could stop him.

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0**

**Lame ending, but I didn't think I'd get his mother's reaction and shit right. Oh, and just to set things straight, NO, that kid is not dead. Please RxR.**


	11. Crash

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Okay, obviously this is something I wrote BEFORE the "War of the Worlds" finale. **

**This was just something random that popped into my head about a week ago. It's completely pointless. Just putting the characters in an ordinary kind of accident that's not alien related.**

**Title: Crash (wow, I'm so creative)**

**Genre: Tragedy/General**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0**

Bright lights. The world being flipped upside down. That's all he could remember. Bright lights and a loud, crunching sound that rang in his ears for almost an eternity.

Then nothing.

A few times he heard people talking, but it sounded like they were miles away from him. Miles away and talking in whispers, panicked, worried. One voice was a constant, always there and always worried, concerned.

Now he could finally feel himself coming back into the world of the conscious and living. The first thing he felt was pain, pain that was distributed throughout every fiber of his being, and he almost wished he were asleep again.

He heard a steady _beep, beep_ coming from somewhere on his left, and felt something that was uncomfortably obstructing his nasal passages. He thought about reaching up to find out what it was, but his body felt too stiff and weak for any sort of movement.

He finally pried his eyes open, but quickly shut them as the lights pierced his cornea. They watered and he squeezed them tight so the wetness would leak down his cheeks. He wished he could wipe them away, but he ached so much. He forced his eyes back open and blinked rapidly until a white room finally came into focus.

Immediately he knew were he was at, and what that annoying beeping sound was.

He was in a hospital, and that annoying beeping was a _good _thing.

Looking down to observe himself, he saw that one leg seemed bulkier than the other beneath the covers. A cast. Great. His left arm was heavily scarred and bandaged, and his right was encased in a cast as well.

There was also someone else's hand there.

Starting, he turned his stiff neck and caught sight of her, red hair tussled and dark circles under her eyes, her fingers inches from the ones sticking out of the cast. She was resting her head on the bedside, the rest of her uncomfortabe on a hard chair.

Swallowing thickly, he managed to speak.

"Gwen?" he croaked, his voice raspy and weak. It even hurt to talk, and that thing in his nose was making his voice nasally and stupid.

She appeared to be in much too deep of sleep to here his croaky call. He cleared his throat painfully and called just a little louder. She stirred and he saw her emerald eyes flutter open and then blink rapidly. She lifted off the edge of the bed and bent back, popping her back and yawning...then she froze.

Obviously she hadn't noticed he was awake, because her eyes landed on him and shock crossed her features. Shock mixed with a variety of emotions he couldn't define, but the most evident was relief.

"Kevin!" she said in surprise, and her voice was rather higher than usual. She looked as though she were about to hug him, but then seemed to decide that in his condition it would be better to just grasp his fingers tightly. Which she did.

"Oh my God, I was so worried!" she breathed. He was shocked beyond all measure to see tears make their way down her cheeks. He'd never ever seen her cry before.

"Gwen...what happened?" he asked, looking at her in confusion. The tears leaking down her cheeks tore at his heartstrings.

"Oh, Kevin, it was a semi-truck, it--"

"A semi- what?" he asked, swallowing hard as he tried to think back. All he remembered was a bright flash of light, a loud horn, a loud crunching noise, his world being flipped over and over as if he'd been put into a dryer set on tumble...and then nothing,

What the hell had happened?

"A semi-truck." Gwen went on, both of her hands now clutching at the fingers that stuck out of his cast. She wiped her tears away on her blue sweater and tried to compose herself. "It wasn't your fault, Kevin, he was drunk, and--"

Once again he interrupted her.

"Wait....I was...was I....in a crash?" he asked, reaching up to touch his throbbing head with his non-casted hand. He felt bandages swathed about his forehead and the uncomfortable tug of the needle that connected him to the IV drip.

She nodded solemnly.

He lay there for a bit, not looking at her, letting this information sink in. After years of fighting to survive on the streets, after years of surviving the Null Void, after years of fighting against the most ruthless aliens in the galaxy, he, Kevin Levin, had nearly had his life ended by a drunk semi-truck driver.

And his car...

"What happened to it?" he asked abruptly, turning his bruised face toward her. Somehow, she knew exactly what he was talking about, and she looked down sadly, shaking her head. Grimacing, he turned away from her again.

He didn't know quite what to think about this whole ordeal, but a voice in the back of his head was telling him that his stupid car should've been the least of his worries. He'd almost _died._ And what good would his stupid car have been to a dead person anyway? He could've been dead, gone, six-feet-under. No more car, no more fighting aliens...no more Gwen.

His throat tightened a bit. He'd nearly left her. He felt a surge of hatred towards the idiot who'd caused the car crash.

He looked once again over at his tired companion, and felt pity take place of the hate. She looked so tired. Who knew how long she'd been there at his side, sleeping in quite an uncomfortable position next to his sickbed.

"Gwen, you should go home." he said quietly, his dark eyes taking on a familiar air of sternness.

Her face was completely composed now, and it showed no emotion.

"...right." she said, and the cracking of her voice betrayed her true feelings. She stood up to make her leave, and sighing inwardly, Kevin reached out and grabbed her hand with the fingers that pitifully poked through the cast.

"Look, Gwen. It's not that I don't want you here...it's just, I'm here, I'm okay, you've seen it yourself. I'm not going to die, so now you should go home and get some sleep....some _real _sleep. Okay?"

He could tell that just the thought of leaving his side was causing her some sort of inner turmoil, but after a few moments the side of her mouth lifted in a half smile.

"Okay. But I'll be back," she warned, looking at him seriously.

He smirked painfully.

"I'm looking forward to it."

She hesitated, then without any warning she leaned over him and pressed her lips softly against his bruised and battered ones. It lasted only a second, and she pulled away quickly, but the shock was quite evident on his face. He stared after her in a dumbfounded trance as she turned to leave, not giving him another glance.

Feeling a little cliche, he brought his fingers up to touch his lips, his brows furrowed.

"I'm _really _looking forward to it...."

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Ugh....I get Gwen so horribly OOC, that's why I always write from Kev's POV. Please RxR I guess.**


	12. Trapped

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**This was just something that randomly hit me earlier today. This and a multi-chaptered story have been floating around in my brain for hours. The multi-chaptered story may or may not happen, but let's just say it'd involve a most likely AU Kevin/Gwen plot. And a cruise ship.**

**I REALLY love how this story came out, so watch it get the least amount of reveiws. It always seems like the work I'm TRULY proud of is the one that gets the least amount of appreciation...what's _up _with that?!**

**Title: Trapped (Oooh, once again my creative wit impresses me!)**

**Genre: Romance/Tragedy/Suspense**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0  
**

The bad thing about fighting underground was that it was incredibly unstable, and cave-ins were almost a garauntee. It was better to just keep it on the outside in the clean, fresh air.

Sometimes, there wasn't really a choice.

The DNAliens were attacking in hoards, so it was pretty obvious that the team had hit an area that they desperately needed in order to carry out their plans. DNAlien goop, manna, and rocks were flying everywhere, and the massive form of Humongosaur filled up most of the underground space.

They were half expecting a Highbreed to show up any minute, and then they'd be screwed. Kevin and Gwen were backed against the far side of the arena, hemmed in on all sides by the advancing hoards, fighting tooth and nail. There was a small indention in the rocks behind them, and aliens were slowly driving them into it.

"There's too many!" Humongosaur roared as the enemy began scaling up his massive back, weighing him down. Some stayed at ground level in front of him, aiming their gooey spit at his face; one succeeded, and he cried out, hands coming up to protect his face.

Mistake.

The distraction left him momentarily vulnerable, and it was only a matter of time before he felt himself falling forward, the weight of so many enemies too much for him. The earth shook beneath him and rocks came loose from the ceiling.

"Ben!"

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

"Gwen, no!" Kevin yelled, catching her around the waist as she attempted to rush through the throng of DNAliens in front of them. The floor began to rumble beneath his feet as Humongosaur fell under the scores of aliens on top of him, and he gazed up at the ceiling.

He gasped.

Completely disregarding her protests, he picked her up roughly and carried her in the opposite direction, feigning left and right as rocks smashed onto the ground in front of him. He could see the indention just feet in front of them, and he knew it was their only escape from the crushing boulders.

He heard a commotion behind them, and both he and Gwen turned to see Humongosaur increased in size, standing up to his full height in one mighty shove, sending the aliens flying in all different directions. Unfortunately, most of them collided with the underground walls, and this only worsened the cascade of death from above.

Adrenaline was burning at his insides as he saw a DNAlien hit the wall in front of them. Without thinking, just concerned with getting to safety, he took a mighty leap forward and landed roughly on his chest, Gwen flying from his grasp and into the small cave ahead.

"Kevin!" he heard her scream, and then suddenly he was lifted from the ground via manna around his middle, and he was thrust into the dark recesses as the rocks landed were he'd been only moments before.

For a long time all he could hear was the rocks piling up in front of the entrance, then all he could see was darkness and all he could feel was the dust coming into his lungs with each breath, causing him to cough. He could hear Gwen coughing just a few feet from him.

Finally, there was near silence, the only sounds penetrating the quiet being their hacking. It was almost as if they had put ear plugs in their ears, completely blocking out the noises of the battle on the other side.

"Kevin?" she coughed out from the darkness, and then suddenly a bright pink light made him close his eyes again as it filled the area with a surprising amount of warmth.

"I'm here." he replied, managing to at last get his coughing under control. The air here was dry and dusty.

It took her a moment to locate his dark form with the small light source her manna provided. She crawled over to him, and he was relieved to see that she looked mostly unharmed, save for a few cuts and bruises and torn and dirt spattered clothes.

"Are you okay?" she inquired, and he was very impressed with the way her voice stayed strong and unwavering, though he knew that she, like him, must be unnerved by the turn of events.

"I think so." he reassured her, attempting to stand up. Yep, everything was fine with him, maybe a bit of pain in his ankle, but nothing serious. His dark eyes found hers for a moment, then he grabbed her hand and pulled her in the direction of the rocks that had fallen.

Her light fell upon the massive pile of rocks, and his face fell as he saw no indication of a way out. No tiny hole letting in fresh air, no rock that looked as though it could be shifted...they were trapped.

"There's gotta be a way out!" he cried out, feeling fear and desperation and anger all swirling around in his stomach. This wasn't how he was going to go, trapped in a cave with Gwen...He whipped his head around to see her looking at him hopelessly, her face covered in dirt and tilted slightly to the side.

He couldn't let her down. He wouldn't let them go like this.

Kevin placed his hand on the rocks in front of him and absorbed the material until it covered his whole body. He took a step backward and drew his fist all the way back, then rushed forward with a yell. The first time his fist collided with a large boulder in the middle, causing the entire area to shake and dust to fall from the ceiling. The second time his fist collided with a wall of manna and smashed it into pieces.

"Kevin, don't. You'll bring the entire cave in on us." she told him in a surprisingly calm voice. He turned to face her, letting the rock covering fade from his body. He furrowed his brow and gestured to the rocks behind him.

"We can't just sit here, Gwen! We'll run out of air!"

"Ben will find a way to get us out..." she began lamely, but then trailed off as they both realized that Ben had been left out there all by himself, confronted with an amount of enemies that had been almost too much for the three of them, let alone just one of them...

"Let's...at least search the cave." he said quietly after awhile of silence. She nodded and headed off towards the darker part of the small cave, Kevin trotting at her heels. Their search proved to be fruitless, for after only a few minutes they found themselves confronted with a solid wall of rock.

He felt panic rising like bile in his throat, but he made sure he kept it pushed down. He couldn't show how freaked out he was, not in a situation like this. He couldn't let her down.

Was it already getting harder to breathe? He thought it was just his panicked imagination making his lungs feel tighter, the oxygen intake feel somehow less satisfying.

It was only then that he realized Gwen had slid down the cave wall in defeat...or perhaps just to rest. Either way, she sighed tiredly and looked up at him, her hand still held high so that the light raked his facial features.

"I guess we'll just have to wait." she said, half-heartedly patting her dirt beside her. Kevin just stood there, his eyes locked on her face. She stared back for awhile, marveling at the emotion those dark eyes carried, the emotion he was too afraid to show on the outside.

"Please don't go beating on the walls again, Kevin. It'll only make things worse." she begged him, practically reading his mind.

"I'm not dying in a cave, Gwen."

"We're not going to die" she told him, but he was almost certain she barely believed her own words of comfort. "Please just sit down...we'll...we'll think of something."

He stared at her for a little while longer, then sighed heavily and sat down on the proffered spot she had patted.

They waited.

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

Now he knew it wasn't just his panicked imagination. It really was getting harder to breathe in here. And he was pretty sure it wasn't just his eyes adjusting to the lighting, but a reality that the manna light Gwen had created in her hand was beginning to get a little dimmer.

He felt himself getting tired, but he had long since accepted the fact that they were going to meet their deaths in this god forsaken cave. At least he was with her.

He barely reacted when her small hand came to rest on top of his resting in the dirt. It took a lot of energy for him to turn his head and face her. She was looking up at him with tired emerald eyes, the pink light raking her features somehow making her look even more tired.

"Kevin?" she asked tiredly.

"Yeah?" he replied, taking a ragged breath of the stale, nearly oxygen depleted air.

"I don't think Ben's coming..."

He couldn't bring himself around to reply. He was sure it had been a long time since they'd left their ally back in the battle area. What once, many years ago, would have been joy at the vanquishing of his enemy, was now a sadness for the likely loss of a friend.

"I'm just glad...I'm not dying alone." she went on, and it was very apparent that it was becoming a pain to speak. The energy to move her lips plus the loss of air during speaking was becoming far too much for her body.

"Don't talk, Gwen" he warned her sleepily. She had to save that last bit of strength, just in case there was a chance...that very slim chance that someone would come for them.

"I'm also glad..." she continued, ignoring his advice despite the logic in it. "...that I'm with you."

That last bit shocked him into a bit of wakefulness, at least enough wakefulness for him to look down at her in wonderment. Surely she didn't mean this? Perhaps it was the lack of oxygen to her brain?

He was a trouble maker, an ex-con, an underground tech-dealer. How could she be happy to die with someone like that?

"Gwen, I don--" he began, trying to voice this fact, but then her soft lips pressed against his weakly but determinedly. He had enough energy to let one of his hands come up into her hair and finger through it. The pathetic kiss was over in only seconds, both of them feeling at a loss for air after only that small bit without breathing.

They were both breathing as if they had run a marathon, and he knew their end was near. He locked eyes with her one last time before letting his head thud back against the rock behind him, eyes closing. He felt her head fall against his shoulder, and her breathing began to slow as if she were falling asleep.

"Gwen?" he asked worriedly, but there was no reply. He felt his own eyes closing again, probably for the last time in his short, hard life.

Was it just his imagination, or did he maybe feel the ground shake beneath him before he passed on into pure bliss? Was it his imagination that the last breath he took before he went unconscious was somehow fresher?

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0**

**Sorry if that was inaccurate, but as I have never personally been trapped in a cave with a limited supply of oxygen...you know. And before anyone asks, NO, it's not Kevin's imagination at the end. Ben was coming for them. Please RxR.**


	13. Sick

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Sorry about the major lack of fanfic, twas grounded. But now I'm back, yay! So here's this, something I was working on when I got grounded.**

**Title: Sick (god, I'm SOOO creative)**

**Genre: General**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0  
**

He was sick.

He knew he was because his body was hot but he was shivering as if the air around him were cold. It wasn't cold. The rain falling down in torrents was warm and the air was humid, as it usually was during the summer time.

He didn't know what had made him sick. It could be the rain that had been falling from the skies for days, or maybe it had been something he ate; digging through garbage cans on occasion could have its downsides.

Sitting beneath a bridge wasn't helping either. He was huddled between two columns, shivering and watching the rain while his ever increasing fever began to get the best of him.

At one point it became so bad he began to hallucinate, and he wondered if the images of his mother taking care of him, bringing him warm soup and checking his temperature were memories or fever induced images.

He felt tired, so tired. He just wanted to sleep, but he was also afraid that if he did, he wouldn't wake up. He needed to get his fever down first. Reluctantly he dropped the newspaper he'd been using as a blanket and crawled across the cold concrete floor to the sheet of rain.

He stuck his head out and let the drops fall thick and fast on his face, and just then decided that maybe the rain w_as_ cold. It felt good, so he inched out a little further and let the drops pelt his neck and shoulders.

He was so tired, and after awhile he simply flopped down in the mud and lay there, eyes closed, feeling his temperature ease slightly...

He wished so much that he was in a warm house somewhere with his mom taking care of him...but no, she wouldn't take care of him anyway. She thought he was a freak.

Maybe she would be happy if he just died here.

It was a long time before he finally dragged himself back under the bridge, and there he curled up and lay his head against the cool surface, tired eyes closing and his mind not really caring whether he died, so long as he got some sleep...

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

He was sick.

Horribly sick.

With the stomach flu.

Great.

He'd found out just mere hours before that he was sick when he'd abruptly decided to heave his breakfast all over Gwen, of _all _people. He was embarrassed and mortified beyond all belief. How could she forgive him for something like that? And how _attractive _it must have been...

Now he was sitting curled up on the couch, face stuffed in a pillow and brown bucket sitting next to him, glaring at him, tempting him to toss his cookies again. Two times in one day was enough for him, especially if both times had either been in front of or _on _the girl you're interested in.

He heard some noises from the kitchen and buried his face deeper into the pillow, his cheeks flushing so hot it hurt. How could Gwen stay here with him so sick? Especially after he _puked _on her; she was just about the last person he wanted to see right now.

He heard soft footsteps on the carpet, then a gentle voice.

"Kevin, do you want--".

"_Please _don't offer me food." he groaned, feeling completely nauseated by the mere thought. He glanced down at that damn brown bucket and took a deep, slow breath, willing himself not to hurl again.

"Actually, I was going to ask you if you were thirsty and wanted anything to drink" Gwen finished calmly, gesturing to a cup of water in her other hand. He stared at it and felt his stomach churn.

"Uh, just sit it on the table..." he said slowly, grimacing. She set the glass down and then seated herself on the end of the couch, near his covered feet. He glanced at her then looked away quickly, focusing on anything but her.

"Kevin?"

"Hmm?"

"You don't have to be embarrassed."

Damn, she was good.

"I don't know what--" he began, but she cut across him, sounding gentle and understanding, which just made him feel a little worse.

"It was an accident."

"Gwen, I _HURLED _on you." he said hoarsely, staring at her evenly.

"Accident."

"But--".

"Nope. Forget it, Kevin" she said severely, and he elapsed into stony faced silence.

There was a long silence in which the only sounds were the gentle pitter patter of rain on the house and the background noise of the TV, which neither of them were really watching. He chanced a glance in her direction and saw her own emerald eyes regarding him with a slightly irked expression.

His cheeks heated up a bit as he turned away and lay his head against a pillow, closing his eyes in a brooding way.

Why couldn't she just leave? He could take care of himself, she should know. He'd done so for most of his life and he could continue to do so now. If she stayed here the only thing she was going to get was another lap full of throw-up.

The heat of embarrassment was now practically charring his skin, and he whipped his head around to ask why she was still here and to tell her he didn't need her.

"I'll be right back." she said, hopping up from the couch before he could speak. He closed his mouth and watched with a frown as she ascended the stairs to the right of the couch.

He knew where she was going.

She was going to the bathroom to fetch a thermometer. It seemed that she had mistaken his red face for an escalating fever.

He sighed and rubbed at his temples before turning his attention to the window near the TV. The rain had increased from a drizzle and was now dripping down from an overflowing gutter onto the window below.

The longer he stared at the rain, the more troubled he became, until at last he finally realized why.

A memory was biting at the edges of his mind, a memory of himself sick and huddled between two concrete columns and the rain falling thickly all around him...

And no one there to take care of him.

Suddenly a massive wave of guilt crashed over him, swallowing his entire body and almost making him sick all over again.

He remembered how at that time he'd wished more than anything in the world that his mother had been there to take care of him, and how he'd wanted nothing more than to be safe and dry somewhere.

Now here he was, safe and snug in a warm house with his friend taking care of him when she could be off doing her own thing. After all, when it came down to it, what did Gwen even owe him?

Nothing.

She owed him absolutely nothing and yet here she was, and she hadn't left his side all day despite the fact that she would almost certainly catch the stomach virus as well.

Now the guilt churning around inside him was joined by a wave of immense gratitude and, dare he say it, _love_. Not in a romantic sense(although Kevin was sure there might be some of that swirling around deep within him), but in an appreciative, friendship sense.

He'd never really had any friends, so this was an entirely new feeling to him. That Gwen cared enough to take care of him like this was more than he could ever put into words.

No one had ever cared about him.

His throat felt tight and he swallowed thickly before taking a deep breath to calm his churning stomach.

He'd been taking Gwen for granted.

"Kevin?"

He was startled by her abrupt reappearance, as he hadn't heard her coming back down the steps. Just as he'd predicted, a thermometer was in her hand, and her eyes were also fixed on his face, furrowed in what could only be worry.

She must have seen his brows furrowed in deep thought, the way his throat had bobbed when he'd swallowed hard.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern, slowly striding the rest of the distance across the room before coming to rest near his feet. One of her hands came to rest on his covered foot and the warmth sank comfortably into his skin.

Ignoring the churning in his stomach that could only mean he was going to vomit again soon, he put a small smile on his lips and answered matter-of-factly.

"I'm fine."

She looked at him with trepidation and he thought she didn't believe him, but after a moment she relaxed and held up the thermometer.

"Here..." she said, holding it out to him. Even she seemed to think that putting it in his mouth for him would be taking it too far.

But he grabbed her wrist and she looked at him, startled.

"Gwen?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for taking care of me."

**x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Yay? Please RxR, yes?  
**


	14. Dad

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**This is just something completely random that hit me while I was ranting to my friends about people letting annoying ass little kids into PG-13 and R-rated movies.**

**Before anyone asks, they're old enough to be teasing about shit like that...and no, they don't go home and have sex after that or something. .  
**

**Title: Dad (ah, there's that GhostDragon wit again!)**

**Genre: Romance/Humor**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x  
**

"Hmm..."

They stared up at the list of movies currently playing, trying to decide between two specific flicks.

"Take your pick" Gwen said, gesturing at them with her hand.

Kevin tapped his chin in indecision.

"Well, as we fight aliens on a daily basis and the aliens in the movie will likely be crappy, it would be more of a comedy to us than a horror." he concurred.

"And as we _don't _fight zombies on a daily basis, the zombie movie would be the obvious choice for a good horror." she agreed. Then she smirked slyly and added,"But if that's no good either, there's always that new romantic com-"

"No."

She laughed.

"Hey, I tried."

"Well, you'll be trying for awhile" he said smugly, though she felt his entwined fingers tighten on her own.

"You know, it takes a real man to see a romantic comedy with his girlfriend."

He frowned.

"I thought the saying was 'It takes a real man to wear pink?"

Gwen rolled her eyes skyward and tugged him along to the ticket booth.

"Zombie movie it is."

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0xx0

"Admit it."

"What?"

"That you jumped when that dog popped out of nowhere!"

He looked at her challenging gaze and then sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, okay, I jumped. So did you. And a chick even screamed." he pointed out as his car stopped at a red light. "It's not everyday an undead dog jumps at someone."

"Well, it was definitely better than that alien movie would've been" she said, nodding satisfactorily. Kevin stepped on the gas and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Definitely one for the DVD collection...but one thing bugs me."

"And what's that?"

"Who the hell brings a little kid into an R-rated movie?"

She was surprised at how irritated he sounded. She looked at his face for awhile and then reached an explanation for his irritation, and she felt herself grinning.

"So...it this irritation at the parent or the kid?"

"Well, both!" he explained, parking outside a restaurant. He turned the car off and continued his rant. "People's stupidity never ceases to amaze me. Some people shouldn't have kids."

"I agree" she said, trying not to laugh. She always thought it sort of cute when he got like this. "And the kid?"

"Okay. Number 1: Little kids don't know how to shut up and stop asking questions, and Number 2: He was kicking my seat the entire time." he complained. "So, congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Stupid, their kid's gonna have nightmares tonight. And may it keep them up into ungodly hours of the night!"

Silence followed that last statement, and through her muffled laughing and exasperation, she managed to speak.

"Wow. You...you would seriously be a great dad."

His eyes widened and he looked as if he were questioning her sanity.

"Not really."

"No, I'm serious, Kevin." she said seriously, at last getting her humor under control. She thought his cheeks turned faintly pink in the darkness of the evening.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, obviously you'd be smart enough not to let your kid watch a scary movie before they're ready. And, I mean...just trust me, you'd be a good one." she said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He looked away awkwardly, now blushing harder.

"I don't know if I really want a kid..."

"No? Hmm. I do." she said casually, one hand running fingers through her hair. He swallowed so loud she actually heard it.

"Are you, uh, trying to tell me something?" he asked quietly, leaning toward her, dark eyes betraying no emotion. She felt a thrill go up her spine, but then she opened her eyes wide and innocent, though her expression was somehow sly.

"I don't know...am I?"

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Lawl, how cliche. Please RxR!  
**


	15. Happiness

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**This has been begging to be done for weeks, so I finally did.**

**Beware of it's cornyness!!**

**Title: Happiness (or Nightmares, couldn't decide)  
**

**Genre: Romance/Drama/Angst**

**Rating: T**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0  
**

He felt happier than he'd felt for a long time.

It was a bright and sunny spring day in the big city, and the cracked ground beneath him was pleasantly warm, balancing perfectly with the mild sweep of the wind. A smile seemed permanently plastered onto his face as he walked leisurely, one hand wrapped securely around that of his mother's.

For once he wasn't in those filthy old clothes, that ripped and dirt plastered black tank top he'd always worn, but the locket was still around his neck, bouncing happily against his chest with each step. And he wouldn't be returning to that dank subway tunnel, but to a nice, warm house. His mom smiled down at him, and he smiled back.

Life was good.

He was just about to ask his mom if they could stop for some ice cream when all heck broke loose. The building in front of them exploded outward, showering screaming people with brick and rubble. He shielded his face with scrawny arms until the dust and debris had waned, then he looked up and gaped.

A big red alien with four arms and eyes was staring at him, clad in a black and white outfit with a strange badge-like button on his chest. He continued to gape as the alien sneered at him.

"You can't fool me, Kevin!"

Kevin had no idea what it was talking about, and he turned to warn his mom to run, but she wasn't there. Gasping, he looked around him but only saw the backs of fleeing citizens. Then his eyes caught the shop window in front of him, and he almost yelled. A huge monstrosity was glaring back at him, and as he took a step backward, so did the creature. Pain surged through his muscles.

It was most acute below his arms. He doubled over, moaning with pain as he gripped his aching head. It was over almost as soon as it began. He opened three eyes and glared back at the creature in the window. He moved one arm up to touch his face, and so did the creature in the window.

He screamed.

x0x0

Kevin Levin sat bolt up in bed, the last remnants of a scream leaving his lips. He threw the covers off without thought and stumbled out of bed, his still half-asleep body causing his legs to nearly give out in his haste.

Dashing into the bathroom, he gripped the sink and gazed at his face in the mirror. Relief washed over him as his own pale, sweaty, _human _reflection gazed back at him. He touched his cheek experimentally and felt nothing but soft flesh.

His heart was still thudding against his chest as he turned the faucet on and splashed water over his face.

"Just a dream..." he mumbled bracingly to himself as he buried his face in a soft towel.

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

"Kevin? You're doing it again." said a gentle and concerned voice.

"Huh?" he mumbled sleepily as a small hand wrapped around his upper arm and squeezed gently. He rubbed at his eyes and straightened his body posture before looking down at Gwen, who was seated next to him on the hot hood of his car in the Mr. Smoothie parking lot.

"Oh, sorry, Gwen..." he said, shifting and taking a sip of the soda that had nearly slipped out of his hand moments before.

Gwen frowned and looked like she was about to say something, but just then Ben came up holding a smoothie in one hand and an empty cup holder in the other.

"Did he almost fall asleep again?" he asked Gwen in slight exasperation as he rudely squeezed himself inbetween the two of them. He addressed Kevin. "You'd better hope we don't get attacked by DNAliens, because you'd be dead in a fight."

Kevin turned slightly bloodshot eyes on him, glaring.

"You wanna test that theory, Tennyson?" he challenged.

"Not a theory, a fact." Ben smiled, undeterred. He took a long sip of his latest smoothie, seeming completely unaware that the older boy looked ready to punch his lights out. Gwen decided to interject before the little argument escalated into an actual fight.

"I kind of have to agree with Ben, Kevin. You look dead on your feet." she pointed out wisely. "Did you sleep at all last night?".

"A bit." he said shortly before wrapping his lips around the straw once more.

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest at the short remark. Kevin looked at her levelly, then turned his dark eyes briefly to Ben, then back to her. Slowly, she understood what he was trying to tell her.

_Not now._

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

"No."

"Kevin..."

"It's nothing."

"Kevin!"

He turned to glare at her and found her glaring right back at him, hands on hips. Emerald and obsidian met for a long time, as if they were having a silent conversation. Finally, he tore his dark eyes away and dropped the sponge he'd been using on his car back into the soap bucket.

Waning sun beat down on the car that was parked just outside of the garage to be washed. He sighed and sat down on the hood, completely disregarding the fact that it was still wet.

"It was just a dream." he said calmly, his eyes finding hers again. He had a completely passive look on his face, but his eyes betrayed just the tiniest bit of emotion, though it was hard for her to tell what.

"A dream?" she asked curiously, walking forward until she was standing in front of him.

"Well...really more like a nightmare." he muttered, pushing a stray strand of hair away from his face. "Like I said, it's _nothing_. Everyone has nightmares."

He tried to stand up, but she placed a hand on his chest. He raised an eyebrow and looked down at her in a challenging sort of way. She stood her ground, and after a bit he seemed to realize that she could, in fact, probably kick his butt.

He sat back down.

"This isn't the first time you've been like this, Kevin" she stated matter-of-factly, referring to the tired bags beneath his eyes. "So you've had it before..."

"Maybe." he agreed.

"So, what is this nightmare?"

"I can't remember" he said lamely, trying to stand up again. This time she grabbed both of his shoulders firmly. This time he didn't back down. He firmly but gently grabbed her wrists and pulled them away before leaning his face in close. "I don't wanna talk about it."

She wasn't moving either. It was weird having his face this close to hers, for the last time this had happened, she was positive they'd been about to kiss. Her heart sped up, but she kept her face determined and in a firm "no nonsense" expression.

"Kevin--"

"No--"

"Let me in--"

"I can't."

She stared at him levelly for a long time. Their faces were still close and he had yet to drop her hands. Feeling almost a little cliche, she tugged one of her wrists free of his grasp and brought it slowly up to the side of his face. She felt him tense and his face tighten almost with pain.

She wasn't quite sure how long they stood there like that, their gazes never leaving each other, obsidian and emerald locked together. He stared at her, barely blinking. The intensity of his gaze was slightly unnerving, but it sent a not entirely unpleasant shiver down her spine.

His face was completely impassive, but the usually guarded orbs seemed to be giving away all of his emotions, and after awhile, she thought she knew exactly what his nightmare had been.

"You're not a monster anymore, Kevin..." she said quietly but firmly. She tilted her head a bit, searching his face to see if her assumption had been correct.

"I know."

"Then what--?"

"But it doesn't change the fact that I _was_ one." he continued, attempting to pull away from her.

The attempt was futile. She grabbed his face with both hands now, and her gaze was piercing.

"Kevin, that's history. You've _changed._"

She couldn't count the number of times she'd told him this in the last few months, the times she'd told Ben, the times she'd told _herself._ He'd changed for the better, but it seemed to be taking everyone a longer time to accept this than her. Even Kevin himself was in doubt.

"What if I haven't?" he asked abruptly, eyes narrowing.

Her heart momentarily skipped a beat.

"I don't believe that for a second."

But he hadn't missed the way she'd locked up for a second, the way her breath had caught in her throat, the way her eyes had flashed with fear...

"See?" he asked, smiling grimly, his face hardening a bit as he pulled away from her hands. He walked over to the other side of the car and leaned against the passenger side door, arms crossed.

Gwen tucked some hair behind her ear before slowly strolling up in front of him. She stood there silently until he looked up at her, one eyebrow raised.

"I wasn't scared of you, Kevin." she said very calmly, closing her eyes briefly.

"I--"

"I was scared _for _you."

This threw him for a loop. He opened his mouth to retort, then closed it, then opened it again, looking very much like a fish gasping for air. She waited until he'd finally settled on just closing his mouth before replying.

"I don't want you to be unhappy." she said, now looking down at her fiddling fingers. She was afraid to meet his gaze, but when she finally looked up, it was to find him staring at her with confusion. Then his eyebrows knitted together again.

"Who said I would be unhappy?" he challenged, a wicked glint coming to his obsidian eyes. "Who said I would be unhappy if I went back to the way I was before? A monster...what could be better."

She watched with a heavy heart as he swallowed and looked away. When he looked back, she saw something that she thought she'd never see from him: tears. They weren't rolling down in torrents, or even sliding slowly down his cheeks. They were simply there, pooling just above his lower lid, threatening to overtake it.

She'd never in her life felt the need to comfort someone more than him at that moment. It was almost as if she could see his nightmare for herself now, the horror he had been subjected to, the pain of having to see himself as a monster again.

"Kevin..." she breathed in a whisper, her own eyes feeling the sting that usually came before the tears. Without waiting for his consent she moved forward and wrapped her arms tightly around his middle and pressed her ear against his chest. She was surprised when he pushed his face into her hair and wrapped his own arms around her, returning the embrace. He wasn't usually the huggiest guy; she was sure she would keep this moment locked in memory forever.

"You're right, Gwen, I would be unhappy...I _was_..." he confessed thickly from somewhere just above her ear.

Words failed her, so instead she hugged him a little tighter for what felt like ages. It was a long time before she finally pulled away slightly, and quite without her permission she was pressing her lips against his. He didn't pull away, only pulled her closer and returned it without hesitation. His lips were surprisingly soft and warm in contrast to the warm but calloused hand that was running through her hair. Her own hands were soon on his face, and she was astounded to find wet streaks on his cheeks; apparently the tears had finally spilled over. She brushed them away with her thumbs and pulled slowly away from his lips.

She looked at him very seriously and asked him in a calm and quiet voice, "Are you happy, Kevin?"

He pushed his forehead against hers, eyes closed.

"More than I've ever been. Thank you, Gwen."

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Lulz, that was pathetic. Please RxR though!  
**


	16. 1: Confusion

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**I got this idea from a list of prompts I found. Yay. This isn't my best, but oh vell.**

**Title: Confusion**

**Genre: Romance/Angst**

**Rating: T**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x  
**

The battle was in a vacated construction area, full of all kinds of hazards. Giant cranes and long boards of wood and bags of cement, including a mixing truck.

Each of them had their hands full with DNAliens; Humongosaur was attempting to not be backed into the cement mixer, deciding instead to pick it up and toss in on his tormentors. There was a loud crash and cries of the aliens as they were downed.

Gwen's manna shields were being broken almost as fast as she could conjure them, most in particular by a DNAlien that had decided to use a long 2x4 as a weapon against her. Each blow was powerful, and one false move on her part could result in massive pain.

Kevin was over by the cranes, using all the metal to his advantage. Hefty punches hit their marks, and when he spotted a big metal support beam lying next to a large pile, he grasped it firmly and swung, releasing at the last second so that it hit multiple targets and sent them back in a cloud of dust.

He was just reaching for another when several piles of the DNAliens goop hit him at once with force, sending him flying backward into one of the cranes. The whole vehicle shook with the blow, and the wires supporting the metal beams strung high overhead began to tremble.

No one noticed until it was too late.

One of the beams came loose and began a descent of more than 20ft down to earth. Unfortunately, by this time Kevin had regained himself and was running forward, right in it's path.

"_Kevin!_"

He whipped his head around at the voice. He caught only a brief glimpse of Gwen's complete and utter horror, and then something hit his head with such force that he was unconscious before he'd even had time to register the pain.

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x

The clang echoed loudly across the area, causing everyone to pause momentarily in their affairs.

She saw him go down as soon as the beam made contact, the sight of his body crumpling so limply as his metal coating faded away made her heart stop beating.

"_KEVIN!_" she yelled out again, trying her best not to listen to the nagging voice in the back of her mind, the one that was telling her that he could be dead...

She started toward his limp form, but was hindered by a large mass of aliens approaching. Seeing the creatures that had caused this made her blood boil, and she simply thrust her hand out and created a pink wall of manna that she used to push them all aside.

She heard Ben roaring behind her, and the sounds of him pummeling the aliens into the ground mercilessly. He was angry, too, and although she knew he might never admit it, he was upset because he thought of the dark-haired boy as a friend.

The beam was lying inches away from Kevin's head, and it's fellows were still swaying dangerously just overhead. Without paying much attention to him just yet, Gwen grabbed him beneath the arms and dragged him across the dirt until they were near the pile of 2x4s. She collapsed to her knees and pulled is head into her lap, immediately noticing comething sticky and warm coming off on her hands.

Blood.

And a lot of it.

She knew head wounds bled more, but it still didn't help her ever growing sense of dread. Without thinking, she reach down and pulled her blue sweatshirt off, leaving herself in only the white button-up shirt beneath it. She pressed the material against the wound and held it there, taking in his slack features.

Some of the crimson substance had trickled down his forehead and was now mixed with dirt, making it look all the more gruesome.

_'Oh, God, please be okay, please be okay...'_

Years ago, she would never have thought that she could have developed such strong feelings for this boy, that one day, instead of fearing him, she would be feeling fear for his _life._

Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed over, and Gwen looked up, startled, expecting to see more enemies. But it was only Humongosaur covered in dirt and a little blood, and as the Omnitrix timed out and he returned to himself, she surveyed the empty landscape behind him.

"Where'd they go?" she asked, her voice just a little choked.

"Left..." he shrugged, then looked down at Kevin with a sad expression. "Is he...you know...okay?"

Barely had the words left his lips when the boy in Gwen's arms began to stir, and his eyes cracked open...

x0x0x0x0x0x0

"...you know...okay?"

That was the first thing he heard as he came back to consciousness, but he couldn't tell who was saying it. His head was one big throbbing mass of pain, and he couldn't help the pitiful moan that ripped from his throat as he came to.

His dark eyes cracked open and he blinked, looking up blearily into the face of a girl with green eyes. She looked immensely relieved to see him awake.

"Kevin..." she said in breathless relief, and to his shock she pulled him against her, his nose pushing gently into her neck as her red hair fell in a current over his head. She smelled good and vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite think of where he remembered it from. He closed his eyes and breathed gently into her neck as one of her slender hands held the back of his still aching head.

It was a warm and comfortable embrace that lasted quite some time, and when she finally pulled away and looked at him again with those beautiful eyes, he felt another jolt of familiarity, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. He tried to think, but then stopped, realizing that such an action at this time just caused his head to hurt even worse.

"Where...am I?" he asked in a cracked voice.

"You don't remember? Wow, that must be some bump!"

It was that voice again, the one he'd first heard when he'd woken up. He turned and saw a boy with the same green eyes as the girl that was stilling holding him. He was smiling smugly with one eyebrow raised as he waited for an answer.

"What?" Kevin asked, brows furrowing. He looked from the boy, who was now frowning, to the girl, who was still smiling with relief, though her eyes were shining with worry.

"Kevin?"

The way she said his name sent another feeling of familiarity through him, and now he finally couldn't stand it anymore. He had to ask.

"How do you know my name? Who _are _you?"

The girl's face fell.

**0x0x0x0x0x0x0xx00x0**

**GASP! Anyway, plz RxR.  
**


	17. 20: Freedom

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**This one's been brewing in my head for a couple of days.**

**According to Dwayne McDuffie, Kevin's human DNA eventually repaired itself, which is why he is human again in Alien Force. He also apparently discovered and learned to use his powers to absorb solid things while he was still in the Null Void. He can still absorb energy, but he is afraid to because of what happened to him. Poor guy.**

**Title: Freedom**

**Genre: Angst/General**

**Rating: K+**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0  
**

His first taste of freedom hadn't been when he'd been released from the Null Void.

His first taste of freedom had happened while he was IN the Null Void.

He'd been stuck in that godforsaken place for years(at least, he thought it was years. He couldn't really keep track). The first year had been especially tough, for his rage at Ben Tennyson was still fresh and biting at his insides. He'd often picked fights with other inmates, imagining each one to have the brats face as he happily pounded it in.

Sometimes he came out of the battle as the loser; bones broken, face bloody...but only sometimes. He was feared by most and considered completely out of his mind and dangerous to everyone. And to an extent, they'd been right. He w_as _out of his mind...out of his mind with rage and hate and hurt.

But as more years passed, he finally began to grow, well..._bored _with these feelings. His anger at Ben faded from his mind and he stopped attacking others, and mostly he just kept to himself; the other aliens thought he'd finally just broken down.

In the middle of his fifth and final year in the Void, something had happened.

One day his bones began to ache and pain him, every mismatched limb burning with every movement; even his head had been splitting with pain. The pain persisted over the next few weeks, and he grew angry and hostile again, much more animal-like than anyone could remember. The pain was driving him wild.

The pain finally peaked one night, and he tossed and turned pitifully in a fevered bought of sleep, crying out and moaning and keeping the other inmates up through the night.

The next morning, a much smaller figure was lying in the cell. Where once the hulking amalgam of aliens had been now rested a teenage male of an average build, his thin frame covered only by a small pair of ripped and tattered old shorts. His eyebrows were still furrowed in sleep as the last of his second pair of orange-furred arms disappeared, and then he relaxed. His once tense body was now completely relaxed in a peaceful sleep free of pain.

When he first awoke, he didn't know what to think. He knew that his body felt somehow lighter and easier to move as he forced himself into a sitting position and rubbed at his eyes...two normal, human eyes. He stopped mid-rub, fists still in eyes as he registered this. Eyes widening as he pulled his hands away, he brought them down in front of his face and saw not crystal and Pyronite fingers, but _normal _fingers.

Pushing himself up onto his bare feet, he surveyed the rest of himself, hands running over chest and arms and face, checking his forehead for the protrusion he had once had. It was gone.

And then...he had laughed.

He had laughed in complete euphoria, the sound of his normal, husky human voice was a pleasure to his own ears; it was no longer a deep and thick voice full of many alien voices merged into one. He'd laughed and grabbed the water for him to drink and stared down at his reflection.

Dark brown eyes, a much more defined and older face, long black hair that was in desperate need of a cut...He drank from the basin of water and then splashed his face with the rest, the laughter now gone but still a grin was plastered on his face.

The other aliens had all listened to this in fear, or else annoyance or pity, thinking that the poor creature had finally gone completely and totally off his rocker.

They couldn't've been more wrong.

He was saner than he'd ever been.

Even the grim thought that he was still in a desolate pocket dimension full of the baddest aliens in the universe didn't do much to deter his happiness.

He was free.

Free of that horrible body he'd been forced to live in for almost five years. It was gone, and he was finally back to normal and he wasn't a freak anymore...and he was never absorbing anything ever again.

At least, he'd thought he wasn't, until a few days later when he'd discovered that his abilities extended beyond mere energy: he could absorb anything. Concrete, metal, you name it, he could do it.

In his last few weeks in prison, he'd spent the time honing his new abilities and getting control over them. When he was finally released, he decided he was going to turn a (mostly)good leaf, one without all that anger and hatred and violence. He didn't want to go down that road again.

He was free, and he wasn't trading it even for revenge.

**x0x0x0x0x**

**Okay, that ending blows, but I couldn't decided where to stop it...DX Anyway, please RxR.  
**


	18. 50 Sentences

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force**

**Yeah, yeah, I know, everyone and their mom has done this, but I really wanted to give it a shot. A nice mix of Alien Force, mutated, and Ben10k Gwevin sentences. I must go ahead and mention that Dwayne McDuffie told us Kevin has always lived in Bellwood, and that he traveled to New York with a gang he was staying with at the time.**

**I neither like nor support the idea of Kevin still becoming Kevin Eleven-Thousand after the events of Alien Force. McDuffie has said that that universe is quickly becoming less and less likely, anyway. Still, it's a little intriguing.  
**

**If you don't mind, I'd like to know which ones you like, and whether you would like to see me elaborate on any of them(as in, make a longer oneshot out of them).**

**And YES, I am very aware some of these are crazy cliched, so please don't tell me they are in your reviews, kay?  
**

**Title: 50 Gwevin Sentences**

**Genre: Varied**

**Rating: T**

**x0x0x0x0xx0x00x0x0  
**

**#1 Walking**:

He preferred driving his car to walking, but whichever he did, he was happy as long as she was in his company.

**#2 Waltz**:

He'd been afraid that he'd be expected to waltz with her at the dance; it turned out that she didn't know how to waltz either.

**#3 Wishes**:

He'd made many wishes in his lifetime, though not necessarily on stars; he'd wished for someone to love and care for him, and now she was right in front of him.

**#4 Wonder**:

She wondered how one person could go through so much pain and torment, only for it to be replaced by love and determinedness.

**#5 Worry**:

He was worried as he sat in the waiting room with his hands over his ears, his eyes shut tight when even that didn't block out her pained screams from the delivery room; there had been a complication.

**#6 Whimsy**:

Once, she'd come to his house on a whimsy and he'd opened the door without thinking; she'd giggled and blushed in apology at the sight of his polka-dotted boxers.

**#7 Wasteland**:

He'd protested as soon as she'd offered to venture into the Null Void; the thought of her having to endure that harsh wasteland of a pocket dimension was completely horrifying to him.

**#8 Whiskey and Rum**:

She was like the rum to his whiskey; he could be harsh and strong, but she was light and sweet, always there to keep him in check.

**#9 War**:

Their Grandpa Max had been in a war, and sometimes when the two teens would sit and listen to the stories, Kevin found himself hovering close-by as he listened in fascination, and he formed a whole new respect for the old Plumber.

**#10 Weddings**:

He'd never been to a wedding in his life, and he never experienced one until his own, when he watched with pride and love as she walked toward him up the aisle; she was forever his.

**#11 Birthday**:

He hadn't celebrated one of his birthdays in a long time, so when she showed up at his house, wishing him happy birthday and giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek as she pressed a card and a box into his hand, he'd been utterly bewildered but thankful.

**#12 Blessing**:

She knew what her parents thought of him, and it was with crossed fingers that she waited for their blessing; not that it mattered, she would've married him anyway, with or without their approval.

**#13 Bias**:

She hadn't heard from him in a while, and when she saw his cramped, biased handwriting on the front of the envelope, her heart had thumped excitedly and yet painfully against her ribcage; letters simply weren't enough, and she longed for his return.

**#14 Burning**:

He'd never been much of a cook, and it was with a sigh and a smile that she'd walked into the kitchen and the smell of something burnt had hit her nostrils; "I give up!" he'd snarled over the ruined food, embarrassed at his failed attempt to cook for her.

**#15 Breathing**:

Breathing was a need, a necessity of life, but sometimes when they were kissing, he'd have to be reminded.

**#16 Breaking**:

When she had first seen him, back when they were ten, he'd already been unstable, at breaking point; and she'd watched in horror and sympathy as he'd transformed into a monster and something inside him had snapped completely.

**#17 Belief**:

He didn't really believe in any god, but sometimes when he thought about her, he wondered if maybe someone w_as _looking out for him.

**#18 Balloon**:

When he'd been little, he'd been fascinated by planes and hot air balloons and things that flew; then he became a monster with wings, and he scoffed at the objects when he flew higher than they could ever hope to go.

**#19 Balcony**:

Her house didn't have a balcony on it, but sitting on the roof amongst the stars was just as good; and it was all the more enjoyable when he sometimes joined her.

**#20 Bane**:

He was the bane of existence, a hellish amalgam of creatures that shouldn't even exist, but she saw the boy beneath all that; he was hurt and angry and all alone, and she felt more sympathy for him than anything.

**#21 Quiet**:

Sometimes after a late night of fighting aliens, he'd drop her off and she'd have to sneak quietly into her house; once, she got caught and was forced to endure a lecture that left her cheeks burning scarlet well into the next day.

**#22 Quirks**:

He had a few quirks, some of which she found a little frustrating; but no matter how annoyed she sometimes got, she didn't think she'd get rid of them even if she could.

**#23 Question**:

When she'd come up to him and asked right out of the blue why he hadn't asked her out, he'd nearly choked on his soda in surprise; had he been _that_ obvious?

**#24 Quarrel**:

When the two quarreled, they hardly ever raised their voices; instead they got right in each others faces and spoke in soft tones that were somehow even more menacing than yelling, although more than once these "quarrels" had ended with the result of lips smashing heatedly together.

**#25 Quitting**:

He still had his rough patches, and several times he had left the team in a bout of anger; though something(or someone) always seemed to bring him back.

**#26 Jump**:

He never seemed to back away from a challenge, even if it was a stupid decision on his part; more than once she had amused herself with the image of him younger, jumping off the top of the monkey bars because some kid had dared him, just to prove that he could.

**#27 Jester**:

His jests(particularly the ones made at Ben) were sometimes immature, but she was always hard-pressed to stop the giggles that usually escaped her; he'd smile at her in a smug, prideful way, happy that he'd succeeded in making her laugh.

**#28 Jousting**:

He'd jousted with Morningstar, and even though he had lost terribly, it was still to his side she had come running; it would take more than a pretty face to swade her away from her dark-haired knight.

**#29 Jewel**:

One day he was feeling a little down on himself, feeling a little worthless; she had informed him that he was a jewel among people, a diamond in the rough, so to speak.

**#30 Just**:

She knew it had been a completely just and right decision to throw him back in the Null Void, but the knowledge did nothing to ease the ache of her heart; even after all the good he'd done, he'd somehow side-tracked back into the world of anger and hate.

**#31 Smirk**:

That smug smirk of his drove her insane; it was annoying, yet somehow at the same time it sent the butterflies in her stomach on a frenzy, and sometimes it even sent a thrill up her spine.

**#32 Sorrow**:

She knew it had been his choice to become this monster, this Kevin 11,000, but still each time she saw him, the anger she felt was accompanied by a fresh wave of sorrow and regret; he'd had such potential as a good guy, a friend, a lover...

**#33 Stupidity**:

Only he could take something as stupid as shoving two straws up his nose and make it funny, _cute _even; she didn't miss the way he looked over at her and smiled when she started giggling at his act of immaturity.

**#34 Serenade**:

He'd never heard her sing before, but then they'd had a baby, and now he found himself purposely coming into the room or else leaning against the door outside as he listened to her serenade it to sleep; her singing voice was just as beautiful as he could have imagined.

**#35 Sarcasm**:

He was a master of sarcasm, coming up with some comment for almost every situation; she enjoyed the look on his face when she came back at him with an even wittier comment.

**#36 Sordid**:

He looked so pathetically sordid, forced down on the floor on his hands and knees and completely covered in a blue-green crystal; he looked helpless and a little ashamed as she kneeled down in front of him and put her slim hands on his face, and she felt the slight tingling as he absorbed her flesh.

**#37 Soliloquy**:

He didn't notice her walk into his garage, busy as he was beneath the vehicle, and she listened with amusement as he talked softly to himself; she figured he was grumbling at something the car was giving him trouble with, but when she heard her own name, her brows furrowed together in curiosity.

**#38 Sojourn**:

The feelings that she felt when he first joined their little team should have been brief, just an infatuation with a new guy, no big deal; now a year had passed, and not only had the feelings persisted, but they had grown stronger.

**#39 Share**:

He'd grown up in the streets of Bellwood and then the hardened streets of New York, and he'd never had anyone to share his feelings with, and they had built up within him to an unhealthy level; years later, he never felt pent up feelings anymore, not while she was there to listen.

**#40 Solitary**:

He'd always lived a mostly solitary existence and he'd become unaccustomed to the touch of other human beings, so when she'd leaned into him at the sight of Magister Labrid's death, he'd felt a mixture of shock and wonder; she was small and warm, and being able to (tentatively)wrap his arms around her in comfort was a surprisingly good feeling.

**#41 Nowhere**:

Often they drove down a road to nowhere, simply content to be alone and in each others company with their fingers laced over the central console.

**#42 Neutral**:

When they talked of the criminal, she always kept her opinions and voice neutral, though everyone knew the feelings she had once harbored for him, and the feelings that still resided within her; she was still in love with him.

**#43 Nuance**:

Once they'd gone to beach for a little vacation, and despite even the best efforts(which weren't very big, anyway), he couldn't seem to catch a tan; she couldn't tan either, but his skin looked pale even compared against hers.

**#44 Near**:

When he got near her, his smile as smug as ever and that x-shaped scar on his chin defined against his skin, she felt disgust, but at the same time a thrill of excitement; it made her angry with herself and she wondered how she could still love someone like him.

**#45 Natural**:

There was nothing natural about the hulking creature before her; he radiated nothing but pure power and evil, and he laughed in a deranged way as he struck out at her with a long, flaming tentacle.

**#46 Horizon**:

Watching the sun disappear behind the horizon was a beautiful sight, but sometimes they became more distracted by each other, and it's beauty was lost on them.

**#47 Valiant**:

He had been strong and courageous, though a little more than she liked; he'd saved her life, but at the cost of his own, and some nights she couldn't help but cry herself to sleep as she struggled to remember the warmth in his dark brown eyes.

**#48 Virtuous**:

One virtue he lacked was patience, which she experienced often when he was stuck behind a red light for more than just a few seconds; he was improving though, often distracted by the conversations they shared while waiting, and even beginning to look forward to them.

**#49 Victory**:

They sparred sometimes to keep top notch in their fighting skills, but he always wallowed in his victory too soon; he'd pin her to the ground with his face inches away, barely aware that as she breathed heavily from the closeness, _she _was about to be the one on top.

**#50 Defeat**:

He'd land on his back with a huff as his breath left him, and he'd open his surprised eyes to see her straddling him to the floor instead, a smug smile of triumph on her lips; she'd lower her face close to his and gloat, but he'd stop her in mid-mock as his lips crashed hotly against hers.

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**Lawlz, that was fun. I'm truly sorry if I used any of these words in the wrong way. I looked the ones I didn't know up and went from there so...yeah. Please RxR.  
**


	19. I'll Make a Man Out of You

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10, Ben 10: Alien Force, or Mulan.**

**Lawlz, this is completely random and retarded. I was just listening to "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan, and then this sort of came out. It was just for shits and giggles, so don't expect anything out of it.**

**For some reason I could see Ben as the captain....weird.  
**

**Title: I'll Make a Man Out of You**

**Genre: Humor/Parody**

**Rating: K+**

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**

"Gwen, this is crazy! If anyone finds out you'll be sentenced to death!" he raged, hovering around her ear like an angry and annoying wasp as he followed her around the camp, keeping his voice just soft enough for her to hear.

"I didn't come all the way out here just for you to tell me to turn back." she said calmly, her eyes scanning the rows upon rows of white tents and the strong looking males sitting outside them. She felt vaguely lonesome, being the only girl here...but she'd just have to tough it out. She was out here to prove a point...albeit secretly.

The young captain, and her cousin, stepped out in front of her, standing up to his fullest height(which wasn't very impressive) and looked down at her with eyebrows furrowed.

"You have to leave. Now. I won't stand by and watch you be killed!"

"I won't be killed, Ben!" she said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her armor clad chest. She looked at him in a compromising way. "Give me a week."

"A day."

"What?! No, it's a week, Ben, take it or leave it! I'm out here to prove that women are just as tough as men!". Her voice had risen during this proclamation.

"SHHH!" Ben hissed, clapping a hand over her mouth and looking around for any indication that anyone had heard them. Gwen, however, wasn't having this, so she elbowed him hard in the chest and pushed herself away from him as he gasped in pain and released.

That was when she slammed into someone and knocked them sideways. Eyes wide with apology, she whipped around to see who it had been...and her apology died on her lips.

It was a big male. He was at least a head taller than both she and her cousin, and it appeared that he could easily be one of the tallest men on the premises. He had a defined face and a slightly hooked nose, and his eyes were the deepest brown she'd ever seen. It was hard to tell through his robe, but it looked like he had some pretty well-defined muscles going on underneath.

She felt her face flush as she came to the conclusion that he was somewhat handsome.

But right now that handsome face was pulled up in an ugly sneer.

"Watch it!" he snarled in a pleasantly husky voice, fists clenching. She stuttered out a hasty apology, only barely remembering to make her voice sound deep as she assured him it wouldn't happen again. He gave her one last scathing look before he stalked off in the direction he had previously been going.

"_This _is why I don't want you here..." Ben breathed lightly as the soldiers around them began speaking in mocking tones.

"Now you dun' it!"

"Yeah, you messed with the wrong man!"

"Kevin 11 doesn't take shit from nobody!"

These outcries were followed by raucous laughter and Ben angrily dismissed them to their duties as he towed Gwen into a quiet and unoccupied tent. The young woman looked puzzled.

"Kevin 11? Why do they call him that?"

Ben sighed and rubbed tiredly at his green eyes, appearing as though he had already been through a war and back.

"Because he was the first and only of Mrs. Levin's kids to live...and he was the eleventh. He was abandoned around the age of eleven as well, and some people even like to stretch the truth as far enough to say he's murdered eleven people. I don't believe a word of it, but I will admit he's got a bit of a nasty attitude."

"That's...horrible." she said softly, peering outside the tent thoughtfully. Ben followed her gaze and then furrowed his brows, indicating that he was all business now.

"But this is exactly what I'm talking about! For all I know he _could _have murdered eleven innocent people, and you could be the twelfth before it's over!" he growled, banging his fist against the low table.

"Kevin 12?" she said thoughtfully, rubbing at her chin. "I don't know, that doesn't have as much ring to it."

"_Gwen! _I'm_ serious!_"

"And so am I." she stated, her voice still calm as she got to her feet. "I'm staying."

She turned and left the tent without letting him get another word in. The new captain sighed and rubbed wearily at his eyes again, feeling that all this was more trouble that it was worth.

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**....this is what happens when it's summer and I get bored. XD RxR I guess.  
**


	20. College

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Sorry it's been so long. Guess I needed the excitement of the upcoming season 3 to get me back in a writing mood!**

**I wrote this one based off the fact, that I am now in my Senior year of Highschool and will be HOPEFULLY going off to college soon. Anyway, this is just short and sweet and to the point.**

**Title: College(how original)**

**Genre: Romance/General  
**

**Rating: K+**

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**

The house was quiet, everyone else having already gone to bed. Her room was dark with only a desk lamp for light, and at the moment she was sitting in front of said desk, staring at a picture frame.

A smirk crossed her lips as she looked at the younger versions of herself and her cousin, both making rather obnoxious gestures at the camera. That summer seemed to long ago; if she squinted, she could see a bit of the Omnitrix protruding from Ben's skinny wrist at the edge of the frame.

She laid the picture carefully on her lap, which was covered with a crumply brown wrapping, then she picked up one other, a smaller one. This one contained a dark-haired male with prominent features and a slightly hooked nose, and his handsome face was twisted in that smug smile he so often wore. It had taken her forever to convince Kevin to smile for five seconds so she could get a picture of him.

She sighed and lay that one on top of the other, then wrapped them both securely in the brown wrapping paper; she then crossed the room and placed them gently in one of the many cardboard boxes lying about her room.

Putting one hand on her hip and the other at her chin, she surveyed the rest of the room. That was it, just the desk lamp left....

She yawned and stretched and checked the digital clock by her bedside. It read that it was midnight, and knowing she would have to get up fairly early tomorrow, she was about to wander off to fetch some pajamas when there was a light tap on her window.

Whipping around so violently her long hair smacked her face, manna balled in one fist, she turned to see who(or what) had made the noise.

"Kevin?" she gasped in a hoarse whisper as she recognized his dark head hovering outside the glass. He looked a little irritable and began shoving his finger pointedly at the lock on the other side; he appeared to be hanging on with only one arm.

Shaking her head in bewilderment, she crossed the room in three strides, flipped the latch and pushed the window up to it's fullest extent. She was quite impressed with how he managed to squeeze his broad shoulders through the tiny window and land on the floor with barely a noise.

As she pushed the window back down quietly, she glanced back over at the digital clock on her nightstand.

"Not that I don't enjoy your visits at...midnight, but what--"

"I'm coming with you."

She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and furrowed her brows, trying to figure out what the heck he was talking about. Then her tired mind caught up and she rolled her eyes skyward again.

"Not this again, Kevin. I told you, it's only 4 hours away, it'll be fine..."

She wasn't sure if she was saying this simply to reassure him, or if perhaps she needed some reassurance of her own.

"Four hours is a long time!" he shot back.

"It's not _that_ long. Why didn't you just apply for college yourself, Kevin? Maybe we could've--"

"I'm not smart enough to get into a college, Gwen" he snorted, obviously finding the idea highly amusing. She frowned; that was a bit harsh, he wasn't stupid by any means. No, he wasn't stupid, but maybe he could've done with actually _doing _his schoolwork in highschool.

"Nonsense! No one knows about Alien Tech. like you do!" she boasted, meaning every word of it. Kevin had knowledge that rivaled even that of her Grandpa Max's.

"Yeah, well, Alien smarts isn't going to do me very well in the 'real world'" he said, using air quotes.

Now it was Gwen's turn to snort. If anyone knew about the 'real' world, it was Kevin Ethan Levin. She doubted very many people had spent several years of their life running amuck on the streets, struggling to survive and practically slipping into the void of sociopathy because their own parents had....She shook her head, finding it just a little painful; if it hurt _her _to think about it, she couldn't imagine how it hurt himself.

"Aliens _are _the real world, people just don't know it right now. But when they do, they'll be wishing they had someone like you around."

"Well, thanks, Gwen, but the truth of it is that in the eyes of everyone else I'm just a poorly educated hoodlum who works in a car shop." he said, shrugging his broad shoulders in a defeated but accepting kind of way.

"Well, maybe they're right about the hoodlum part..."

They both smirked at each other, but it was short lived and they soon slipped back into silence. Then Kevin took a step closer.

"I don't want you to go...but at the same time I do. Does that make sense?" he asked softly, deep chocolate eyes locked with her green ones. She nodded her head in amusement.

"Yeah, it does actually. I feel the same way..."

It got quiet again and as he sat their looking at her and around the near empty room, she could tell he was struggling with something internally. He shifted his feet and then found her gaze again and opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him.

"It's only four hours, Kevin..." she began again in a soft tone. "It could be worse, I could be days away, or maybe even halfway across the world."

The mere thought seemed to make him wince, but even he couldn't argue with that logic.

"I guess...".

She took a step closer to him.

"And it's not like I'm never going to visit back here."

He seemed to consider this, then to her surprise he reached up and stroked the side of her face and the hair hanging there.

"I already almost lost you once..." he mumbled more to himself than to her. She looked at him seriously. She knew what he was talking about: the time when she had almost lost herself in the intoxicating powers of her full Anodite form.

"That was different. I'm not leaving like that. _Never _like that."

He pulled his hand away and stood observing her for the longest time, so long that she actually became a little self-conscious and ran her fingers through her hair and wiped her face, wondering if there was something strange there.

Then, quite without warning, he said with a fierce determination , "I'll visit you every other day,"

She almost laughed at that, but stifled it and merely smiled and cocked a brow.

"That's unnecessary, Kevin...besides, I thought you didn't like wasting gas?".

"I don't consider anything dealing with you a waste of gas." he said very seriously, and for such a tough guy exterior, he really was one of the most sweet guys she'd ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Laughing, she moved forward and locked her arms around him in a hug, and was pleased when she felt his well-toned arms wrapping in return around her slender body, engulfing her in his warmth. She tilted her head slightly and took in his scent, knowing she wouldn't be smelling it so frequently anymore. It was a bittersweet thought.

"I just need to ask one thing." he said, his deep voice rumbling in his chest where she had her ear pressed there.

"And that is?"

"You're not going to forget about me when all those college guys start hitting on you, are you?"

Underneath the playfulness she detected a hint of actual fear. She pulled away from his chest and beating heart and frowned.

Then she smiled and laughed and pressed her lips firmly against his for a long time.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about."

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**Yeeeep....please RxR, yes?  
**


	21. Are You Challenging Me?

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Yeah, finally decided to do a Kevin 11K/Gwen fic. I'm not very fond of the idea of Kevin turning evil again, especially after the events of Alien Force, but the idea of him still having feelings for Gwen while being evil is rather intriguing. **

**I'm sure everyone and their mom has done a story like this, but hopefully mine's different in some way. Sorry if it's similar to anyone else's, I didn't intend it to be. This one differs in that I didn't write Gwen using her magic, just her manna(I have barely seen any regular Ben 10 episodes, so I'm not that great with the whole magic thing.)  
**

**Anyway, enjoy.**

**Title: Are You Challenging Me?**

**Genre: Romance/Action**

**Rating: T**

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**

Her cousin was down for the count, and she watched with horrified eyes as the hulking amalgam advanced on him, chuckling like a madman as it was carried forward on tentacles.

"You'll never learn, will you, Tennyson?" he asked mockingly, stopping in front of Ben as he reverted back into his human form and looked up tiredly, his face battered and bruised.

Chuckling again, Kevin 11,000 pulled back a huge tentacle and prepared to deliver the final, crushing blow...until he was hit in the back of the head with something white hot and purple. Whipping his head around with a snarl, his eyes alighted on her.

"Get away from him!" she snarled right back, both hands glowing brightly with manna. She didn't know what she expected of him exactly, but she wasn't counting on the huge grin that spread across his charcoal black face. Adrenaline and fear were pumping through her veins, but also a fierce regret.

Regret of what he had become, even after all the good he had done.

"Gwendolyn, you must be joking?" he laughed harshly as he turned and advanced on her instead, leaving Ben lying hopelessly on the ground. He stopped about halfway to her and threw back his head, sounding truly and completely insane as his laughter rang off the walls.

"You think you can fight me?" he asked once he had finally gotten himself under control. He moved even closer to her, that wicked smile on his black fangs becoming even more amused, and Gwen readied herself, feeling every muscle and fiber in her body preparing for a fight.

"Are you challenging me, Gwendolyn?" he growled, lifting himself up to his fullest height as he stopped moving again, this time just mere feet from where she was standing. She looked up at him resolutely and kept the fear from her face with much concentration.

"Yes, I am." she said in a deadly quiet tone, looking him square in the face.

The smile slid from his face and he regarded her for a long time, the only sound that of the crackling flames that surrounded his head and crawled up his tentacle arm.

Suddenly, he swung out with his arm.

She was prepared.

Catapulting herself backward just in time, she actually felt the air created from his arm as it swung past beneath her. She landed on her feet and sent manna bolts in his direction, but he only laughed again and swiped them away with such ease it would have been amusing if not for the dire situation.

Nostrils flaring, she steadied herself and sent a dome of manna all around him, somehow knowing even before he smashed it into pieces that it wasn't going to work. He lifted himself up to his fullest height again, and with a loud yell brought all his arms crashing down close to her position. She created a protective bubble around herself just as they slammed into the ground, cracking the concrete into bits and sending her flying into the nearest wall. The shield broke on impact and she crumpled to the ground, barely managing to catch herself with her hands.

She whipped her head up to look at him, her red hair hanging down in her face, her breath coming fast. She hadn't missed how he had purposely avoided her, hitting the earth in front of her instead of aiming directly where she had been: if he had, she would've most assuredly met her end.

"Already had enough?" he asked cockily, approaching her form with a sneer on his face, though she thought she detected some sort of admiration or pride in his cold eyes.

She was beginning to wonder why she had challenged him; she was foolish to think she could win where her cousin had so spectacularly lost. But at least maybe she was buying him some time to recover and get back in the game.

"Just getting started." she said with her own wicked smirk. Getting quickly to her feet, she encased a large pile of debris from his earlier attack with manna. With a yell of effort, she brought it up into the air above his head and let it drop.

He glanced upward but didn't bother to move. It crashed down directly on his flaming head and there was a satisfying crunch...but when the dust cleared, he was still standing firmly and after only a tiny crack of his neck, he grinned at her.

"Nice try!"

She spun on her heel and ran in the opposite direction, truly beginning to panic; he was more powerful than she had given him credit for. She could hear the pounding of his hulking frame behind her, and as the sound grew closer and louder she felt a strange thrill coursing it's way up her spine, and even stranger still was the thrill of excitement bubbling in her stomach.

Haphazardly she threw up a wall of manna behind her and continued forward only to hear it shatter a second afterward, followed by more of his maniacal laughter.

That laugh would be ringing in her ears for nights to come.

Realizing her running was futile, she spun around to face him and fight, but before she could make even a small move he had snatched her up in one of his smaller Vulpimancer arms and pinned her against the wall. She struggled in vain for a few moments before finally stopping in defeat.

The huge hand around her waist suddenly shrunk to a smaller size, and when she looked up there was a tall, pale human male standing before her with long black hair and a curiously X-shaped scar across his prominent chin. There was a smile on his face that just barely reached his cold gaze.

"Impressive, Gwendolyn, but I believe I win." he said, the smile tugging higher until it made his slightly hooked nose wrinkle. She looked into the dark eyes and felt a painful stab as she remembered how they used to be warm and brown and caring.

What had happened?

"Kevin..." she began quietly in a pleading tone, looking at him with a serious expression. He seemed to relax a bit at the sound of her voice uttering his name, and his brows furrowed together. His large, calloused hand moved up to one side of her face, and far from recoiling, she leaned into it.

"Beautiful, Gwendolyn...I could never hurt you." he said softly, chuckling a bit as he moved his thumb across her cheek, removing a strand of her stray hair and tucking it behind her ear. "You're as stubborn as I remember."

She didn't know what to say to his comment or his attentions, so she kept quiet and kept her eyes locked directly with his, feeling as though she had a lump in her throat.

He furrowed his brows and moved his face closer to hers.

"So powerful and willful and intelligent...You were the only one I ever wanted."

His voice had grown barely above a whisper by the time he reached the last words, and to her surprise he closed the distance between them and pressed his lips firmly against her own. Once again a thrill shot up her spine, and almost against her will she was kissng him back with ferver, clutching at the black leather of his clothes and pulling closer as desire coursed through her.

"Kevin..." she gasped as he pulled away, but then something happened.

Kevin was suddenly swept off his feet and sent hurtling into a wall several feet away. Looking around with complete bewilderment, she saw the huge, orange form of Humungosaur at his fullest size, plates going down his back that somehow reminded one of a stegosaurus.

Right now, he had an extremely disapproving look on his face, and it was directed at her.

"Gwen, what were you doing!?" he demanded, pointing in the direction he had just punted Kevin. She followed his finger with her eyes and saw that the leather clad male was already getting to his feet and morphing back into his monsterous form. He looked pissed.

"I--" she began, but Ben silenced her.

"Later!" he growled, then charged head first at the enemy.

Gwen remained where she stood, barely seeing the rest of the battle, but feeling more confused than ever.

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**Yep, yep. The first in a line of fics based off a 100 theme. Please RxR, yes?  
**


	22. Keeping a Secret

**Disclaimer- Do not own Ben 10 or Ben 10 Alien Force.**

**Consider this a sequel to "Are You Challenging Me?". I sure hope you guys are clever enough to figure out just what's going on by the time you reach the end of the story. It's pretty obvious, lmao!**

**Title: Keeping a Secret**

**Genre: General**

**Rating: K+**

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**

This was not good, this was not good.

She paced the room back and forth, alternately chewing her bottom lip and glancing at the clock that hung just next to the door.

How could this have happened?

Well, she knew _exactly _how this had happened, but what the hell was she supposed to tell anyone? She could keep it to herself for only a certain period of time before it would become completely impossible to hide it anymore...

So she could keep it to herself until someone noticed...or she could run away until after--but no. The adult thing to do would be to tell someone now and get it out of the way.

But she wasn't feeling very adult right now.

And the person she told couldn't be Ben. There was just no way she could tell him, he'd completely blow a gaskit and that wasn't what she really needed right now. Right now, she needed some sort of support from someone she could trust...

Her eyes lit up. Maybe she could combine her two options: tell someone about it(someone she trusted) and then head for the hills and keep a low profile until it was over and done with. Then nobody could do anything about it.

Already knowing exactly who she was going to entrust this information with, she flung a cloak over her figure and left the room, not even bothering to turn the lights off on the way out.

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"Gwendolyn?" Julie asked in surprise when the female entered her place of working. She looked apologetically at her fellow employers and stepped outside with the taller woman at her gesture of urgency.

Julie started to say something further, but Gwen shook her head frantically and lowered her hood, looking rather mysterious indeed.

"Sorry, Julie, but I don't have time. I need to tell you something important, okay?"

"I--"

Gwen held up a hand.

"You can't breathe a word of this to anyone else, not even Ben." she went on with her brows furrowed in all seriousness. She studied Julie's face, which seemed to be struggling with something; obviously she didn't like the idea of hiding too much from Ben.

"Please, Julie? Ben is the last one who needs to know this, I just need you to cover for me while I disappear for awhile." she pleaded, feeling so guilty about all this. She should have thought about this before she'd--

"Well....what exactly am I keeping from Ben?" she asked curiously, scrutinizing her face with such intensity that it made Gwen feel as though she were reading her mind. She blushed at the images one might find there at the present time.

Looking around to make sure no one was nearby, then looking at Julie again to make sure she was paying the utmost attention, she leaned forward and whispered words in her ear that made her eyes widen until they threatened to spill from their sockets.

"You're pregn---!!" Julie started to say out loud, but Gwen quickly slapped a hand over her mouth to stop the flow of words. An uneasy feeling swirled in her stomach: what if telling Julie had been a big mistake?

"That's....That's big, Gwen. I don't know if--"

"_Please, _Julie, if you reacted like this, can you imagine how Ben would take this? He _can't know._"

Julie looked extremely unsure, staring down at her feet and then looking up at Gwen with a defeated expression. Her next words eased a lead weight in Gwen's stomach.

"Alright, Gwen. You have my word, I won't breathe a word to anybody."

"Thank you!" she replied with a huge sigh of relief, hugging the girl in front of her. She had been thinking she was going to have to pull the "You love Ben right? Then you can understand this!" card, but thankfully she hadn't had to stoop that low. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

"You're welcome, Gwen. But...how long are you staying gone? I'm not sure how long I can keep everyone fooled..."

Gwen sighed, pulling the hood back up over her face.

"I'm not sure. Maybe a year, maybe two...just keep them in the dark as long as possible, Julie, and I won't think none-the-lesser of you if they come looking for me before then."

She started to turn to leave, but Julie caught her arm. She whipped around and saw a look of surprise on her face.

"You're leaving now?"

"Yes, it's better if I just leave now. Thank you, Julie. I'll find some way to repay you when this all blows over."

She gave the girl one last hug and before anything else could be said by anyone, she turned on her heel and walked off with a swish of her cloak, having absolutely no idea where she was going but knowing that she needed to find somewhere quiet to stay, somewhere where the life growing inside her wouldn't be shunned...somewhere it's father wouldn't be shunned either.

That was going to be challenging.

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**Well, by my hints that this is a sequel to my previous chapter, AND throwing in that last line about "it's father", SURELY you know what's going on and who the father is? ;) Please RxR.  
**


	23. Break Away

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Ugh, not TOO fond of this one, but hopefully you guys'll at least like it. And what can I say, I'm on a mutant!Gwevin and Kevin 11K/Gwendolyn kick! Weird, seeing as my favorite kind of Gwevin is of the Alien Force variety. I must say though, mutant!Gwevin and future!Gwevin are extremely fun to write.**

**I see this story as SLIGHTLY AU....I haven't seen the entire series so I may have done something wrong, I dunno. **

**Sorry for any major typos.  
**

**Title: Break Way(as in the ground breaking away, rofl!)  
**

**Genre: General**

**Rating: K+**

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What had started out as nothing more than a light drizzle had escalated into a treacherous storm, threatening to far surpass what any weather man had predicted.

But such trivial things didn't matter to one who was fighting for their life...or rather, fighting to _take _one's life.

The battle had escalated as much as the storm, and it was far from it's place of origin on the other side of the forest where he had first attacked the RV. Currently his world was being flipped over and over, and finally he came to a sliding stop on his hulking stomach.

Snarling, he spit out mud and tried to get back to his feet, but a sharp pain shot through the right leg and sent him crashing back down. He looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps.

His three least favorite people in the world were emerging from the trees, and anger bubbled in his stomach that he had actually sustained an injury from them.

Ben, in the form of Cannonbolt, moved forward, ignoring the lightening that flashed overhead and the rain that rolled off him in buckets.

"Had enough yet, Kevin?" he asked in a highly annoyed voice. "Cause you know, I'd rather be nice and dry in the RV."

In his twisted mind Ben was smiling smugly at his pathetic position in the mud, and his grandpa Max and smart mouthed cousin were an unwanted audience.

Feeling his blood boil, he growled back, "I'm just getting started, Tennyson!"

Once again he pushed himself up, mud and water dripping from his mismatched body, and instead of putting weight on his right leg, he used the two Vulpimancer arms for support.

Before he could move, he noticed an expression change in Gwen's eyes as she noticed the leg dangling uselessly behind him. She stepped in front of Ben, who looked ready to attack.

"Wait, Ben! His leg, it's--"

"Gwen!"

For as she had been speaking Kevin had charged forward, his Petrosapien arm formed to a lethally sharp tip. She whipped around in horror, then Kevin's foot sank deep into the earth with a loud squelching noise. His eyes widened and he fell forward, instinctively reaching out and grabbing the nearest thing to him as the ground broke away in a massive mudslide.

He heard Gwen cry out as his hand wrapped around her ankle and she fell forward too, scrabbling at the ground with no luck. He thought he heard either Ben or Max(or maybe both) call out her name, but the rushing of mud and rock around him was deafening.

The descent was completely chaotic, he was being tossed around like a rag doll again and again, and on instinct he drew in all his limbs, bringing the girl with him quite unintentionally and protecting her against his broad chest.

After what felt like forever, he came to a stop and all at once pain from his broken limb assailed his senses, Barring his teeth in pain, he forced his Pyronite arm outward with a burst of flame that sent the mud flying, leaving him with fresh air and unclogged senses.

It was with much effort that he pulled himself back out into the drenched world; the mud was thick and almost like quick sand. Shaking his muddied hair, he looked at the direction he had fallen and saw that it had been quite a ways; if he'd taken that fall without the mudslide, it would've almost certainly knocked him out cold.

_Another day, Benji_, he thought bitterly, then started to slide down the mud and onto the soft ground. His wings were completely ruined, caked with mud and tattered and wet with rain. So he walked.

But he winced when he stepped down with his injured leg, and he wondered vaguely why he wasn't using his lower arms for the extra support.

That was when he noticed that he had been craddling something in them without realizing it.

Looking down with his unmatching eyes, he saw something small and fragile looking, totally covered in mud. She was clearly unconscious, her body lying limply in the arms and her lips slightly parted.

Ben's cousin.

_How--? _he wondered bewilderedly, but then he remembered grabbing at something before the ground gave way; it must've been her. And somehow he'd kept hold of her the whole way down.

He scoffed and removed his arms, not caring as her limp body thumped to the grass. He stepped over her and limped toward the woods, but stopped at the fringe and looked back at the pathetic form on the rain soaked ground.

Some force was keeping him rooted to the spot.

She _had _tried to say something about his wound.

But she was Tennyson's cousin.

But she'd never done anything to him personally...

He had never thought twice about someone besides himself before, and it irked him to his core. He couldn't just leave her there, thought that's what he would normally have done.

Wondering why he had suddenly gone soft, he reluctantly returned to her and scooped her up, albeit rather roughly.

He staggered only a little way into the trees and then stopped tiredly, setting the girl carelessly against a tree trunk before collapsing onto the ground and closing his eyes.

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

Rain spattered her face and made her open her eyes. A headache pounded in her head and she groaned in pain and sat up, feeling drained.

She wasn't sure what had happened but...

She paused, feeling a bit of fear in her stomach.

Kevin was lying a few feet away from her on his stomach, in a position that clearly showed he'd simply fallen to the floor and not bothered to get up.

That was when she remembered he'd grabbed her and dragged her with him...where ever he had gone. None of the surroundings looked familiar to her.

She stood up slowly, eyes never leaving Kevin, not knowing whether he was unconscious or asleep or...dead. That thought was bad; she felt such sympathy for him despite his attitude.

He didn't deserve to die, he just needed some help.

His back was rising and falling with steady breathing though, so she could rule out death. She inched forward warily and peered around at his face, which was for once completely relaxed and not contorted in rage.

A few inches from his head she could see his strange foot and hand marks in the mud; she figured she could follow them back to grandpa and Ben.

But she couldn't.

What if he was laying there dying?

She couldn't just leave him. Whether she had been carried to safety or for harm(and the last one was more likely), at least he hadn't left her for dead in the ground collapse.

She could at least take a look at his leg.

Moving toward the area in question, she saw that it was sticking out in an unnatural position.

She winced.

Ben had done quite a number on him.

She reached out, but before she had barely touched the rough skin, something whacked her in the gut and sent her sprawling on her back a few feet away. Looking up she saw Kevin's tail swishing in agitation as he got clumsily to his hands and foot.

"Stay away from me!" he threatened, the fire on his arm growing hotter so that the places where raindrops hit it evaporated instantly into vapor.

"I was just trying to h--!" she spluttered, but he growled over her.

"Just what? Trying to take care of me while I was down?!" he demanded, stepping forward and sounding quite demented. "Trying to rid the world of a freak!?"

"No!" Gwen yelled back defensively, furrowing her brows. "I was trying to help you!"

He just glared at her and backed away, sitting down so heavily the ground shook.

"No one helps me." he said bitterly.

If she remembered correctly Ben had offered him help when they'd first met, but she kept quiet.

"Because you don't let them..." she muttered to herself, getting back to her feet and dusting herself off. She studied him a moment, not sure if it was safe to approach him or not.

He glanced at her still form with his peripheral vision.

"Well, aren't you going to get back to your stupid cousin?" he snarled savagely. She didn't flinch.

"Let me fix your leg." she said calmly, though she was shaking. "And I'll go."

"No, I don't want your help!"

"Well no wonder no one helps you, you don't even want their help when they offer it!" she snapped, feeling brave.

He looked momentarily surprised at her outburst; after all, she was small and frail and had no powers...as far as he knew, anyway.

He couldn't seem to think of a comeback, and so lapsed into a stony faced silence, avoiding her gaze. Rolling her eys at this Ben-like behavior, she moved toward him cautiously.

He didn't make any move to stop her.

Once she was close enough to him, she could hear his deep breathing, his massive lungs working hard to support such a messed up body.

She reached out to touch his injured leg.

A Vulpimancer arm shot out and grabbed her entire hand, wrist and all, in a tight gip. Her eyes widened.

"I said I don't want your help." he said in a deadly quiet tone. They glared at each other for a long time before she spoke.

"Are you going to break my hand?" she asked coolly. She knew she was playing with fire, possibly in danger of losing a limb...or even her life. But he needed this; he needed someone to talk to, to show him people cared.

It was the first step to help heal his damaged mind.

For a moment he continued to glare, then he tightened the grip on her hand til it hurt and fear coursed through her entire being. Then he released and sat watching her with an irksome stare.

Breathing a sigh of relief, her tiny hands finally found the strange feeling flesh and moved across it gently, searching for something irregular. The muscles jumped beneath her fingertips and she figured it was either from pain or else his obvious lack of human contact over the years.

Maybe it was both.

At last she found the area of the break, which was puffy and swelled. The moment she touched it he jerked it away from her.

"There's nothing here to fix it anyway" he said.

She thought for a moment, desperately wishing she had her spellbook with her; perhaps there was something in there that could heal wounds?

Tapping her chin thoughtfully, she glanced up at the dripping trees and moved her soggy hair out of her face.

"Kevin."

He looked around at her.

"Can you reach that branch? The flatish one?" she asked, pointing up at said branch.

"Duh" he sneered, and in one smooth movement had created a sharp piece of diamond and flung it at the base of the branch. It sliced clean through, shaking water droplets off on them which only added to their half-drowned appearance.

He caught it deftly in one hand and held it out to her.

"Show off" she said boredly, jerking it out of his grasp.

He actually grinned, but whether it was a grin of danger or humor she couldn't tell.

"We can use this as a splint, but first we need to--"

_Crack._

She winced at the obvious sound and looked over at Kevin, saw his teeth grit in pain as he held the newly re-aligned bone.

"Kevin! That's not--"

"Just put the branch in place!" he grunted, still in obvious pain. She did as was bidden and watched as he tore a strip of clothing from his shredded shorts. He handed it to her and then held the splint in place as she tied it down. She backed away when she was done and he levered himself up and experimented with putting weight on it.

A lot of the pain seemed to have eased.

Having not been expecting any sort of gratitude from him, it didn't surprise her that he said nothing. He stared at her for a moment and she flashed him an uncertain smile, not quite sure what to do next.

Shifting his feet uncertainly, he looked like he was having some internal struggle, but before he could open his mouth a sound caught both their ears.

It sounded like pounding footsteps, and both of them whipped their heads around to peer through the gaps in the trees.

Something was heading toward them, and Gwen was sure it was calling her name.

"Ben!" she called, ecstatic. Then her eyes widened in complete alarm and she looked back at Kevin, who was beginning to look murderous again.

"Kevin, please don't, just--" she began in a distraught tone, stepping between him and the approaching Fourarms.

"Gwen!"

Since when could Fourarms run so fast?

She felt like a deer caught in the headlights; stuck between two people who hated each others guts.

"Gwen, get away from him!" Fourarms demanded, all four of his fists clenched.

Instead of doing as he asked, she moved herself a little closer to Kevin, far more afraid he would charge than Ben.

"What the heck are you doing?"

Ignoring her cousin's question, she turned to Kevin, who seemed to be looking right through her and over to his enemy.

"Kevin, just let it go, please? You're hurt..." she begged him, feeling like it was pointless and that she was talking with a mindless beast who was only intent on destruction. But maybe that's what he was, and always would be, and her attempts were worthless.

To her complete and utter shock, he looked down at her and nodded, though he still had a terribly angry look on his face.

"Only this once...because you helped me. Don't expect it again."

Without another word or glance at her, he turned briskly, almost smacking her with his tail again in the process; she staggered back to avoid it. They watched him leave until they could no longer see him or feel the thumps of his huge limbs hitting the mud.

She stared after him for a long time, not knowing what exactly to think about him...but knowing she would try to help him with every chance she got.

**x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Sorry for the lame ending, I couldn't think of HOW to end it properly. Please RxR, I guess.  
**


	24. Abandoned

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Alien Force.**

**One of the many things I'm looking forward to in season 3 is more back story on Kevin. He's easily the most interesting character on the show, and I can't wait to learn more about him and his powers.**

**I based this off a fact McDuffie stated on his Q&A, that Kevin had always lived in Bellwood and traveled to New York with a gang he was staying with at the time.**

**Title: Abandoned**

**Genre: Angst/General**

**Rating: K+**

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**

The first night was the hardest.

He hadn't known what to do with himself.

At first he had been engulfed in a wave of hatred so strong he hadn't cared, but by the time night was falling all around him and he realized he had no home to return to, no warm bed to crawl into...

He'd wept.

The tears had fallen thick and fast and soaked his shirt in a matter of minutes. He was vulnerable and scared, scared and confused and he didn't even know why he had been pushed out in the first place; he hadn't meant anything bad to happen, hadn't meant to hurt people...to hurt her.

It was an accident.

He wept so loudly, he was sure someone must have heard him wailing for his mother at some point during the night.

But they didn't stop to help or comfort him.

For the next few days he stayed close to his house, his _former _home, in a copse of scattered bushes and trees on the other side where a house had yet to be built. He sat with his knees up to his face, occasionally wiping at his eyes or sniffing or flipping a bug away from his flesh.

There was little activity, but on one or two occasions he saw his mother leave the house and get in the car, and in those moments his hopes would rise and his heart would beat a little faster...but then the car would be gone and the gaping whole in his chest became bigger still.

He stole food from town and brought it back, sitting and watching and waiting...but then finally, something changed in the manner that he watched. His gaze was bored and steady, and he no longer felt any sort of happiness at the sight of his mother.

He felt nothing.

The next time he went into town, he didn't return.

He kept going, walking for miles, stopping when he saw fit and stealing only when he was hungry. Sometimes it was so hot he thought he would pass out, and other days the rain washed over him thickly, dripping from his prominent nose and falling to the grass.

He didn't know how long he traveled, but he kept out of sight and out of people's way, knowing that if they found him they would surely take him to the police to find his parents...parents that didn't give a shit about him.

Something inside him broke more each day, and slowly he began to look forward to stealing, to the thrill it brought when he was almost caught or when he _was _caught and was forced to run, laughing wildly.

He enjoyed not having anyone to answer to.

One night he slept under a big bridge in a rather large city, the traffic and noise around him so loud that it could barely be considered sleeping on his part. He tossed and turned, finding the concrete hard and uncomfortable, missing the softness of the grass in smaller towns.

But he had long since lost any idea of where he was at on the map.

It didn't matter. He was a free agent, he could do whatever he wanted, whatever he pleased, and if anyone threatened him they'd get what was coming to them; a face full of elec--

He lifted his head up. He had heard footsteps slapping on the concrete; there had to be at least more than two of them by the sound of it. He knitted his eyebrows together and stood up, tensing his muscles, immediately going on the defensive.

Four kids stepped into view, not much older than him, maybe thirteen or all looked like him: a little rough, torn clothes, in need of a hot meal and a warm shower and _love_...

He shook his head mentally at the thought.

The kids saw him and stopped, all of them staring, glaring.

A rather fat one spoke up, obviously the leader.

"Beat it kid, this is _our _bridge."

Kevin looked around mockingly at all the old water stains and bird poop and graffiti, all of which lacked anyone's name. He voiced this fact boldly, already working all his stored energy toward the palms of his hands.

It had been a while since he'd had to use it last, but these guys were asking for it, he could see.

One of the skinnier ones stepped forward.

"You got some nerve, kid!" he said in a nasally and annoying voice, Kevin didn't say anything, just stood his ground and stared at them all evenly, not flinching. He wasn't stupid, he knew he had them outpowered zero to none.

"You have guts, and I'm feeling generous. You got about five seconds to remove your ass before I kick it for you." the big one said in a snarl.

Kevin smirked. He didn't move.

The nasally one shot out his hand lightening fast and fastened his fingers around Kevin's tattered shirt and the lock necklace that rested against his chest. Fury washed over Kevin and he yelled out, pushing at the kid's chest with his hands and sending a jolt of electricity through him in the process. The kid let go and staggered backward, his hair standing on end, his eyes wide with shock at the sudden and intense feeling.

"What the hell?" one of the others shouted, backing away a bit. "This one's some kind of mutant _freak_!"

That word.

That did it.

The something inside of him that had been threatening to break for months finally snapped, snapped clean in two and sent him over the edge. Energy crackled in his fists and he advanced on the remaining boys, appearing quite deranged as he snarled out each word.

"I'm. Not. A FREAK!!"

Intense light and static in the air.

All of the tiny gang lay flat on their backs, their hair sticking up and their skin turned black in some places. One of their ears was bleeding, and when all the others sat up slowly, he remained on the ground, unconscious and bleeding.

Kevin had spared a bit of the power, and he moved toward them again, his face drawn in a sneer.

"You got five seconds to get out of my bridge." he spat, making sure they could see clearly the electricity crackling around his fingertips; it would only be enough to give them a tiny jolt, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

Two of them immediately scrambled to their feet, grabbed their fallen comrade and skittered away, not bothering to wait for their boss. Kevin turned his attention back him.

The kid backed away nervously, smiling a bit, trying to look placating.

"Look, n-no need to be hostile! It was just a joke! Why don't you stay with us? We're headed to New York, you could--"

"Out!" the dark-haired boy snarled loudly. The leader yelped and jumped to his feet, following the same path his buddies had just taken in their chicken-hearted escape.

Kevin watched and then sagged, suddenly feeling extremely drained and tired. He dragged himself out from under the bridge and to the nearest street light. No one was nearby, and he quickly absorbed every last ounce of energy from it, leaving the area dark and foreboding.

He felt newly re-energized, but still tired and strained.

This time, when he lay back down under the bridge, he wedged himself in an area no one would see him at first glance and he was asleep within seconds.

The next day, he sought out the boys and took them up on their offer.

He was headed for New York.

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0**

**Hopefully this gets more love than the last fic I put up here. Please RxR.  
**


	25. Tears

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Oh come on, you KNEW this was coming! XD Tiny spoilers for Vengeance of Vilgax.  
**

**Title: Tears**

**Genre: Angst**

**Rating: K+**

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**

The remains of the garage were dark and dusty and lonely.

But where else was he supposed to go?

Certainly not home.

He sat against the wall, trying very hard not to look at himself, at the hideous patchwork materials that now made up his entire body. Somehow, he felt even more like a monster this time than he had all those years ago.

Blinking slowly, he looked down at the little red bag sitting next to him, looking lumpy but otherwise the same as it had the day it had been given to him. It sat with it's mouth wide, openly mocking him with the revealed marbles of different materials shining slightly in the dim light.

Furrowing his brow, he reached into the cloth and pulled from it a sleek silvery orb, the very same ball bearing she had handed him months ago. He let it roll into his palm and closed his hand around it. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, concentrating hard to absorb it...but nothing happened.

Anger flared inside him and he dropped it, letting it carelessly roll across the floor as he reached for another. This one appeared to be made out of some sort of linoleum flooring, like that found in kitchens or school buildings.

Another deep breath to calm himself.

He concentrated hard, not only trying to absorb it but _wishing, _wishing he would just change back to normal--

--nothing.

This one he chucked across the room where it smacked against the wall and clattered away among the debris.

Seizing the entire bag, he dumped it in his palm, a few of them falling to the floor rather than the proffered area. He tossed the bag aside and gripped the marbles in both hands, concentrating so hard it gave him a headache.

Nothing.

With a strangled yell of rage, he put every ounce of strength into his arm and hurled every one of them across the room, the sound of clattering marbles completely deafening in the previous dusty silence. Before the sounds had even stopped, he'd rounded upon the wall, pounding his fists into it a few times before collapsing to his knees in front of it.

For the first time in a long time, he felt like crying.

And that's exactly what he did.

He didn't wail or scream or hiccup.

He just cried, the tears rolling silently down his mismatched face and dripping silently to the floor.

Things had finally been going right in his life, he was fighting the good fight, he had actually made f_riends _with Tennyson even though he would never admit it. And best of all, things were going good with Gwen...but not anymore.

She wouldn't want some patchwork frankenstien who could make scissors out of his hands.

Sniffing once he wiped away the tears that made him feel so much like a kid again, so much like the little kid who had been abandoned by his own family, and he slumped against the wall, letting his eyes slide closed as the blissful oblivion of sleep overtook him.

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0**

**AAAAAANSGT!! Please RxR.  
**


	26. Breaking the Rules

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**I was feeling the need to write some Gwevin so...here you are! I've not been too impressed with season 3 so far, but that will not deter my love for Kevin or Gwen or Gwevin! I hope the season DOES get a little better, I mean, it's not TERRIBLE or anything, but I feel it could be better.**

**Anyway, here we go, another prompt down, 94 to go!**

**Title: Breaking the Rules**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: T  
**

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**

He'd been a trouble maker, a rule breaker, always getting himself and even sometimes those around him into heaps of trouble. He'd stolen, put people's lives in danger for personal gain, and even sometimes just for _fun_. All because his parents had abandoned him at a young age, and without parental guidance he was, well...

A bad boy.

She could come to no other conclusion.

Joining the team had done him a world of good, however. He never got into too much trouble anymore. Mostly the only criminal thing he continued to do was broker alien technology, and as much as she frowned upon it, she could live with it. He had more than proven himself as a decent and caring person when he wanted to be. She'd rather him dirty his hands with illegal dealings than for him to continue the way he had been.

He still speeded too, as evidenced by the piles of speeding tickets tossed carelessly into the glove compartment of his car. Far from being ashamed of them, he seemed proud of them.

She had been in the car with him once when he'd been speeding, though it had been for the good cause of luring the police away from Ben and Alan. She would never admit it to anyone, but it had been..._exhilarating_. Her heart had pounded against her chest at the sound of the sirens right on their tails, and some sort of strange mixture of excitement and fear had bubbled in her chest as corn stalks slapped harshly against the windshield and then bent beneath the car's tires. Kevin had been practically grinning from ear to ear, leaned right up to the steering wheel and his foot suddenly made of lead as it pressed the pedal almost all the way to the floor.

It wasn't that she'd enjoyed breaking the law, but it was somehow just _thrilling_ knowing that you were in trouble and could be caught at any moment...but you knew that you _wouldn't _unless you wanted to. She never doubted his abilities behind the wheel, he was a pro at what he did and she never felt safer than when she was in that car with him.

But she had noticed something.

He never seemed to break the rules with her in the car, unless it was to escape some alien or to get to an emergency ASAP, but she knew for a fact that he did it all the time when it was only himself in the high tech vehicle. Perhaps it was because he thought she disproved of his antics(which was very true to an extent) or maybe he wanted to impress her by being a good boy.

Whatever it was, she intended to find out.

Tonight neither of them could sleep, and he offered to take her on a random drive until they felt good and sleepy, as he so often did on nights like this. She agreed of course, jumping on any opportunity to spend time with him.

They drove for a long time, just talking about their day and perhaps things that had happened in the past or stuff that might be in the future for them, and she waited until he was on a long stretch of quiet road 'twixt Bellwood and Los Soladad to pose her question.

"Kevin...?" she said quietly, looking over at him with twinkling eyes; she was feeling daring tonight.

"Gwen?" he asked, cocking a brow.

"I've noticed something."

"What's that?"

"You never speed when I'm in the car."

He opened his mouth and then closed it, brows furrowed, clearly a little surprised by her statement. He didn't say anything for awhile, just drummed his fingers on the leather wheel and listened to the soft hum of the radio which served as background noise and nothing more. She tore her gaze away from him, looking back out the front window with a frown, thinking she must have said something wrong.

Then he spoke.

"Who said I speed without you in the car?"

Giving him the classic 'you've got to be kidding me' look, she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, looking at him severely.

"Kevin, _please _don't insult my intelligence. I've seen your glove box, remember?"

He cast her a sideways glance and smirked, leaning back in his seat and taking one hand off the wheel so that he could scratch his neck.

"I wasn't insulting you." he said simply, still smiling. "And okay, so I do speed. Are you going to turn me in?"

He leaned toward her slightly, chuckling at his last statement. She pushed his face away, rolling her eyes again.

"Of course I'm not going to turn you in."

"So what's the big deal then?"

"You mean aside from the fact that it's breaking the law?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow. His lips pulled up in amusement.

"Yeah, besides that."

"You never speed when I'm in the car, unless it's for a good reason, like aliens or something."

"Woah, woah, woah!" he said suddenly, his eyes widening with shock. He sat up straight and put both hands on the steering wheel, pulling the car into the dirt on the side of the road with a great deal of noise and dust clouds as he brought it to a stand still. The engine continued to hum and Gwen released the grip she'd had on the seat at the sharp turn. He turned to look at her; by the expression on his face, it appeared that he thought she'd flown the coop.

"You're telling me that you're...you're _angr_y that I don't speed with you in the car?!" he spluttered in exasperation, his voice an octave higher than usual. He obviously couldn't believe his ears.

For some reason her cheeks flushed lightly at his exaggerated reaction.

"I didn't say I was mad! I just wanted to know why!" she defended herself, slight anger boiling in her stomach at the mirth and smugness that shone in those nearly black eyes of his.

However, at her statement, the amusement died and he turned to look back out the front window.

"There's no reason." he lied.

"Kevin..." she reproached. He sighed and turned his eyes skyward before answering.

"I don't speed with you because I'm _trying _to show you that I can be a good boy who obeys the law. I know you don't like what I do, so I try not to...much."

He didn't look at her the whole time he spoke, and in the faint light from the dashboard and the moon overhead, she could see that his cheeks had flushed a light shade of pink as well. It touched her deeply that he had admitted this and she reached out her small hand to lay it on his shoulder. He looked at her, cheeks slowly returning to their normal pale shade.

"You don't have to show me anything, Kevin, I already know you're a good person." she said softly...and then smiled, chuckling a bit. "And don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

He chuckled too, his deep, husky laugh mingling with her softer giggles. When they finally stopped, he looked at her for a moment and then leaned toward her, looking sly.

"So, enlighten me. Do you or do you not want me to speed with you in my car?"

She kept her gaze locked with his, shooting him her own sly smirk as she replied.

"How about I just let you know when I feel like breaking the rules?"

He looked at her for a moment longer, then he smiled smugly and to her complete shock, leaned forward and kissed her nose lightly before pulling away. She reached up and touched the place where his warm lips had briefly made contact, wishing that it had been just a bit lower...

"So, what'll it be tonight? Rules or no rules?" he asked her in amusement, one hand paused on the clutch and the other at the wheel.

She pulled her fingers away from her nose and locked gazes with him again, noticing a twinkle in his eyes that was already making excitement pool in her gut.

"I'm thinking...no rules."

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Yay for Kevin/Gwen shenanigans! Please RxR, yes!?  
**


	27. Sacrifice

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Wooh, been a while since I last posted! Anyway, this is another one of those Evil Kevin/Gwen ones. Like I've said, I don't entirely dig the idea of Kevin still turning evil after the way he is in Alien Force, but you must admit it's an intriguing concept!**

**Also, I don't know about you guys, but after seeing that "There For Tomorrow- A Little Faster" music video for Alien Swarm, I am totally psyched!! XD The guy playing Kevin is so hot/adorable...which only makes sense seeing as Kevin himself is hot/handsome!  
**

**Title: Sacrifice**

**Rating: STRONGLY T RATED! (There is NO sex, I promise you guys, just some strong sexual themes and two REFs to sex, nothing more. I don't consider this bad enough to be M rated, so just skip over this if it offends you!**

**Genre: Romance/Drama  
**

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**

Gwendolyn Tennyson was pissed. Pissed beyond belief.

She stood, frozen in front of the Magister's polished oaken desk with it's prissy little name plate and stupid paperweight lying on a stack of files. She wanted to pick it up and mortally wound the alien in front of her.

"_What?" _

"You heard me, Tennyson," said the Magister, scratching boredly at the frill that was his ear. He said the words with an air that dismissed her, but Gwendolyn wasn't going to be silenced that easily.

"Why?"

"You know why."

"No, I don't."

"Gwendolyn. You think you can stand here and say you don't know why I won't let you go after Kevin Levin alone?" Magister asked vehemently, slamming three hands down on the table as he leaned across the desk, eyeing her with slitted cats pupils. She stood her ground, not even flinching. Just what the hell was he getting at?

"Why?" she repeated, taking a calm and even breath, her green eyes locked with his blood red ones.

"You have _feelings _for that man, Tennyson! Feelings for a psychotic murderer!" the alien spat out, standing up, attempting to use his considerable height to intimidate her. Once again, she stood her ground, though now her cheeks were turning a faint pink color from embarrassment and anger.

"I don't have feelings for him!" she ground out, her fists clenching. Magister snorted and plopped back down in his seat, laughing diresively.

"Don't insult my intelligence, please, miss Gwendolyn! Everyone knows about your history with criminal mastermind Kevin Ethan Levin! Just as soon as I were to let you go after him alone, I'd find you in bed with him!"

Gwendolyn found herself gaping like a fish, the rage and shock and hate broiling within her so intense she couldn't stand it. She couldn't believe that something so rude had been said to her, and by a Magister of all people. Cheeks still flaming, she lashed out at him.

"Well then, if I have such strong feelings for him, let me trick him! He'll come to me if what you say is true!" she yelled, but even the thought sent a wave of guilt crashing through her system; she could never trick him like that, never. Even with all the things he had done, she couldn't bare to betray his trust...even if she couldn't trust _him_.

The Magister surveyed her intensely, all the fingers of his limbs entwined together in quiet thought. Finally he shook his head.

"The final answer is no, Gwendolyn. You are dismissed."

He waved a clawed hand and swiveled his chair around so that his back was facing her. She stood rooted to the spot for all of a minute before she forced her mouth closed and left out the door she'd come in.

She made sure she slammed the door as hard as possible, and took immense satisfaction at a shattering sound from the other side. One of the pictures on the wall had fallen from its perch.

x0x0x0x0x0x0xx0

It was warm as she walked home that evening, the planets two suns baking the back of her scalp and neck and casting her shadow quite a few lengths ahead of her. She missed Earth and it's cool seasons of fall and winter. This planet had only summer, stretching on and on and on thanks to it's double supply of ultra violet radiation.

She was still so annoyed, and even though normally she could've gotten home by much faster means, she had decided to take the traditional way so she could blow off some steam. It wasn't working very well, because now she had an internal struggle taking place beneath her stunning red hair, one that was absolutely eating her up from the inside out.

_I _do _have feelings for him..._

She couldn't deny it, there was just no way she could. She had fallen madly and irreversibly in love with Kevin back when they were teenagers, back when he had been good...

Gwendolyn shook her head to rid the painful thought, the memories of his earth colored eyes so warm and full of love that it ripped her heart into two. Ever since his betrayel that had been some hole in her chest, one that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't close up.

_Maybe if I actually tried dating other guys..._

But this was no option. Try hard as she might, her heart had never been captured by another man the way it had been captured by Kevin. Ben had even gone through a phase of setting her up on dates, sometimes with friends of his, sometimes with strangers...humans and aliens alike, and after a while the whole thing just got extremely irksome and she'd insisted that he stop, as much as she appreciated his help.

She hadn't been on a date since.

It was terrible to resent someone so much, but still want them so badly...but it wasn't like she hadn't had her fair share of him lately. On the last few attempts of the Plumbers to catch him, he had started openly flirting with her, purposely leaving her untouched as he incapacitated her fellow officers. The last time he had actually kissed her, so it was really no surprise that everyone on her force knew she had feelings for the madman.

Gwendolyn sighed and cursed silently at the flush that coated her face at the thought of the kiss. It had been a simple affair, just the briefest brushing of warm, rough lips against hers as he backed her into a wall, ignoring the energy she had balled in her fists. It had completely dissipated when he'd kissed her, as a strange fire had ignited momentarily inside her.

It had been the first time their lips had met since they were teenagers on the same side...and it had been just as exhilarating.

Suddenly she wondered what Ben would think if he were to find out, and decided it would be better that he didn't, lest he blow a gasket.

The suns were completely gone behind the horizon now, leaving the sky tinged pink and slightly a slightly cooler atmosphere, though it wasn't any more comfortable.

She was just passing by an alleyway between two buildings when the hair at the nape of her neck began to prickle, alerting her to someone else's presence. Before she could react, something pulled her into the alley's darkness so fast her head spun. She closed her eyes to ward off the mess-up in her equilibrium, and at the same time felt something pin her tightly against the brick wall.

"Long time, no see," chimed a voice in her ear, the hot breath tickling the area and making her shudder. The fear mostly faded from her body when she realized who the owner of the voice and calloused hands on her bare arms belonged to. A new feeling had taken place of the dread, an odd mixture of excitement and fear and longing all in one.

"You're giving me a lot of trouble, you know," she replied, opening her eyes so that she could see his dark silhouette. He chuckled huskily and moved down, placing a generous kiss on her neck that stoked the fire within her once again,

"Am I?" he murmured, not relenting his attentions on her neck. It was taking all of her control not to moan out loud or show any kind of pleasure at all. Her slender fingers clutched at the leather material covering his strong arms.

"Don't play coy." she breathed, aware that every part of his body was pressed firmly against her. It was making the blood sing in her veins.

He laughed again, moving lower with his kisses. The shirt she was wearing was a v-neck low enough to reveal a modest amount of her bosom. The man had no problem pushing the collar down a little further so that he could place a chaste kiss on the swell of her breast.

Gwendolyn's skin was searing everywhere he was touching her now, and she simply couldn't contain the small sound of pleasure that escaped her lips. Kevin lifted his head up and in the dim light her eyes had adjusted to, she could see a hungry glint in his pitch black orbs. She inwardly cursed herself for encouraging him.

"Gwen..." he muttered longingly, kissing below her ear and nibbling at her lobe. She sucked in a deep breath and tightened her grip on his arms.

"No, Kevin..." she ground out; it was becoming increasingly hard for her to refuse his pleas. There was silence for a few moments as he continued pressing his lips against her hot skin.

"You were angry." he said suddenly, and she marveled at how quickly he could change the subject.

"What?" she asked dazedly, the heat from their bodies making her dizzy and somehow relaxed.

"Just now. I could tell by the way you were walking. What made you mad?"

"I...it doesn't matter."

"Don't feed me that shit, Gwen," he growled, one hand moving down to grasp her buttock as he kissed her lips harshly.

She gasped when he pulled away and she dug her nails into his lower arms, which were exposed. He showed no sign of pain, and it seemed her breathing alone had escalated at the action.

"My Magister doesn't trust me with you. He seems to think I have feelings for you."

Kevin smirked smugly and pushed his hips more firmly against hers, eliciting a long moan from her.

"Now why would he think that?" he questioned curiously, grinding against her fractionally. Her grip on his arms increased and her legs wrapped around him, pulling closer.

Gwendolyn was about to completely lose her mind; it wasn't fair that he could do these things to her, pry these feelings from within. She felt a drip of sweat tracking down her temple, cause by a combination of both the high temperature and the foreplay taking place.

"Kevin..."

"I don't want you in trouble on my behalf, Gwen" the man started, the fingers of his free hand running through her locks. "So I'll turn myself in."

Gwendolyn completely froze, not daring to believe what she just heard. Kevin was no longer moving either, simply staring firmly at her as his warm and surprisingly sweet smelling breath wafted in her face.

Never, in her entire life, would she have expected to hear such words coming out of Kevin Ethan Levin's mouth.

It was a long time before she could bring bring herself to respond.

"...what?" she asked in a voice hoarse with shock that was barely above a whisper.

"I can see that I'm causing your fellow Plumbers some doubt about you. So I'll prove them wrong and let you turn me in." Kevin told her, his deep voice sounding inappropriately loud in the sudden silence.

Had the alley echoed so loudly from the start?

"...on one condition."

Her heart skipped. From her experience, Kevin's "conditions" weren't always so good. She didn't have a clue what he was about to ask her for, but she wasn't even so sure she liked the idea of turning him in. He would most assuredly be sent to the hell hole that was the Null Void.

"I want you, Gwen," he mumbled quietly, kissing her neck again.

Her thoughts became jumbled and confused, torn between the pleasure he was instilling on her now, and the more logical part of her brain that had sent the red flags waving in warning.

She wanted him. Gwendolyn Tennyson wanted Kevin Ethan Levin so bad she couldn't stand it.

He must have seen it in her eyes that she wanted him, because he moved forward and kissed her hotly even after she had turned down his "condition".

He knew he had her, and so did she. But as usual, she wasn't going down without a fight. It suddenly occurred to her how ironic the situation was, given what the Magister had so rudely said to her earlier.

"No..."

"Gwen..."

"I can't"

"But you want it." he supplied.

"I do," she choked, moaning as he ran one hand tantalizingly down her thigh.

"Then let me have you for one night, Gwendolyn, and I can give you what you want."

Her resolve fled at his pleading and husky tone. Wrapping her legs more tightly around his waist, pulling him close, not caring that he would probably go back on his "condition" after he'd had his way with her, she grabbed his face in her hands and mashed his lips forcefully against her own. She kissed him long and hard, moaning in the back of her throat as his calloused hands caressed the skin beneath her shirt, sending gooseflesh up and down her body. Finally, she broke away from him and responded with the so obvious answer.

"Deal."

x0x0x0

The next morning when she awoke, he was still lying with her, his strong arms keeping her naked body warm against his gently rising and falling chest.

He had kept his word.

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0**

**NUMMEH. Please RxR.  
**


	28. Illusion

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Another Dark!Gwevin, but this one isn't really very sexual, so don't worry my friends! And don't worry, I've got some non-Dark!Gwevin ones that should come soon, I hope.**

**Title: Illusion**

**Genre: Drama/General**

**Rating: T  
**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0  
**

She politely excused herself from the throngs of people, her aching feet providing an excellent excuse to abandon the claustrophobic atmosphere and take a few minutes alone on one of the buildings lovely balconies. The long day had finally taken it's toll on both her body and her frayed nerves and she was longing for the receptions end.

She closed the sliding door behind her and held onto it for support as she took her high heels off. Rubbing at her throbbing feet, she silently decided that next time there was an occasion she'd be wearing something with less of a heel...or maybe boots.

At the edge of the balcony, she stopped and leaned against the railings as she stared up at the planets two bright moons and the millions of stars that surrounded them.

It couldn't have been a more perfect night.

_...or a more perfect lie._

Gwendolyn shook away the dark thought and ran slender fingers through her long locks as she pulled it down from it's bun. There was nothing at all that was a lie about her marriage to this man...nothing at all. He was sweet and kind and tall and he had some of the darkest eyes.

...and was it such a crime that she had briefly imagined someone else standing before her at the alter, someone else saying the vows and someone else pressing their warm lips against hers as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck?

And what about her embarrassing slip of the tongue, when she had uttered the wrong man's name and her new husband had so very nearly heard?

There was nothing wrong with that...was there?

Yes, there was.

A woman's wedding was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, but Gwendolyn had been feeling nothing but confusion and regret and a mixture of other things since the day started. She loved this man, she did...but she wasn't so sure it was for all the right reasons.

Was she only marrying him because of his similarities to _him_? Because of the dark eyes and hair that reminded her so much of the man she truly longed for?

No, she really did have feelings for the man himself, she was sure of it...

"It's not a lie." she murmured firmly to herself suddenly, gripping the railings.

"Isn't it, Gwendolyn?" came a deep, husky voice from behind her.

She stiffened, something cold and icy plunging into her stomach as she immediately recognized the owner of the voice. She took a deep breath through her nose and released her grasp on the rail, trying to keep calm.

"What are you doing here, Kevin?" she asked stiffly, slowly turning towards the area his voice had originated from. Most of his body was concealed in shadow, but she could just make out a wine glass between his fingers.

"Just came to congratulate the newly weds..." he replied with a smirk in his voice. She saw him take a leisurely sip of whatever was in his glass before he moved forward into the moonlight.

She nearly gasped at the sight of him.

He was in a tux. A clean pressed, very new looking tux complete with bow and shiny shoes. The white shirt underneath it was unbuttoned just enough to reveal a generous measure of his chest, but this wasn't what had made Gwendolyn so stunned. It was his hair that truly made the picture. Where once it had been overlong and falling past his shoulders, it was now almost the same cut he had possessed when they were teenagers.

He was absolutely beautiful in the bright light from the moons. Breathtaking, really.

But she wasn't going to tell him that. She didn't say anything, just stared at him levelly as he continued to walk toward her casually, one hand holding that wine glass and the other shoved in his pocket.

"The funny thing is, I wasn't invited." he said with a hard edge to his otherwise light words. A slight breeze wafted across the balcony and ruffled their clothes and hair, carrying away the tap of his shoes across the concrete surface.

"When has that ever stopped you?" she asked with an air of exasperation.

He stopped walking and chuckled in amusement. In one swift and sudden burst of speed he had crossed the remaining distance to her and she could hear the gentle slosh of wine as it very nearly left the glass. Inches from her he looked even more handsome and she had to keep reminding herself that this was a different man than the one she had fallen in love with, the one he so resembled tonight.

The flash of remaining insanity in his earth-hued eyes helped keep her in check.

"It hasn't." he breathed, and though he wasn't drunk she could still smell the alcohol on his breath. It was a sickly sweet scent.

"Then why are you complaining?" she mumbled quietly, hoping he wouldn't notice the increase in her breathing at his close proximity.

"Who said I was complaining?" he asked in calm surprise, pulling away so that he could take another drink. He downed the entire thing, licked his lips in appreciation, then proceeded to shatter the glass with his bare hand.

"But enough about me...congratulations, Gwendolyn. Whose the lucky groom?"

"You expect me to believe that you're here just to congratulate me?" she asked hotly, eyes locked on the ones that were once again only a few inches away and shining with madness. He laughed and she felt one of his cool hands under her chin. She did her best to look defiant but found her body craving the touch.

"You read me like an open book, Gwendolyn."

"Don't touch me." she hissed, cheeks flushed. A moment later she felt a strong arm pulling her roughly against his hard chest, and she struggled in vain as he ran his free hand through her hair.

"Feisty as ever. How about a little dance, Gwendolyn? It's the least you can do after not inviting me." he insisted, forcefully maneuvering their bodies into a proper position for dancing. She didn't bother removing her hands once he'd placed them around his neck, he was too powerful for her to fight in her drained state...not that she usually stood much of a chance.

Soft music filtered out from the reception and he lead her in small circles, making her memories kick in again, back to when they were teenagers dancing to the music from his car...

"My husband will be wondering where I'm at."she told him in what she hoped was a threatening tone. She was so tired and he was so warm and the music so soft...she wanted to lean her head against him but wouldn't allow him the satisfaction.

"Good. Then maybe I'll get to meet him."

"NO!" Gwendolyn shouted before she could stop herself. Her heart pounded against her breast as Kevin suddenly stopped moving, looking down at her in mild surprise.

"I get the feeling you don't want me to meet him! First you don't invite me...I thought you had better manners than that, Gwendolyn, or is it on his request?" the dark haired male asked with a carefully guarded expression, continuing their swaying dance around the balcony.

"You know damn well why I don't want you to near him!" she snapped, attempting to pull away from him, but he only pulled her closer, one calloused hand gripping her arm tightly. He moved his face in dangerously close to her own, what could only be described as an evil smile on his lips.

"Are you afraid I'll kill him, Gwendolyn?" he breathed in a hushed voice, his exhale wafting across her face and making her dizzy.

"You stay away from him!" she snarled once she regained her senses, and with a powerful burst of manna she was able to send him skidding away from her. He forced himself to a halt and dusted himself off carelessly as she stood there panting, hair falling over her face in a cascade.

"Always overreacting...I won't touch your husband, at least not yet.", he smirked, and Gwendolyn lost it, yelling as she sent several spheres of manna spinning in his direction. His mocking laugh echoed across the area as he dodged in a burst of quick speed and suddenly materialized behind her. She attempted to turn around but he grabbed her arm and twisted it, making her cry out as he pulled her against him once again, though this time facing away.

"No, I know exactly why you chose him. Did you think I wouldn't notice? The way he looks, the way he acts. But he'll never be me, Gwendolyn, and that's just something you'll have to learn to live with." he hissed quickly in her ear, making her shudder in a completely inappropriate way.

He kissed her warm neck several times before he released her arm and grabbed her around the waist instead.

"He'll be such a burden once you realize you don't love him, that he's just not the same as the real thing." he went on, ignoring her struggles to get out of his grasp. Her cheeks were burning red with the truth of his words and she just wanted to be alone for a long, long time. "But don't worry, you won't be stuck with him long..."

The last sentence was uttered as a death threat, there was no mistaking. Her eyes widened as she finally escaped his hold and whipped around to face him, eyes betraying every bit of her horror.

"No! You can't!"

"I can." he said seriously, standing still as a statue with his arms behind his back. After a moment he slunk around behind her again, his voice becoming low and threatening. "Because I love you, Gwendolyn, and I won't make you live with a mistake you're bound to regret."

"If you love me then you'll leave him alone!" she yelled, manna forming in her hands again.

"Poor naive, Gwendolyn, is that what they tell you?" he chuckled from behind, but when she turned to face him he was gone, nothing but a gust of wind left from XLR8's speed.

Gwendolyn stood frozen on the stop, heart pounding fast and mind racing. She didn't know what to do next, but at the moment she felt a strong need to make sure her new husband was okay, and she rushed back inside, leaving Kevin's dark chuckling on the wind.

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Dang that was so pointless! . Anyway, plz RxR, tis muchly appreciated!  
**


	29. Heaven

**Disclaimer- Don't own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force.**

**Just wanted to do some fluff. To be honest this popped into my head while I was watching New Moon and the scene was Bella and Jacob fixing up the motorbikes.**

**They seem a little OOC to me, so sorry if they are, I tried not to.**

**Title: Heaven (cause what's better than just being with the one you love?)**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: T**

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0  
**

She loved the summer time. Even as a college student her love for the season hadn't faltered in the least. It was full of hot sunshine and shorts, ice cream and tank tops...it was wonderful.

_"Kevin, can I ask you a favor?"_

_"Anything for you,_ Gwen."

_"I've been having a little car trouble, could you...?"_

The garage was kept cool by a large fan pointing directly at the red vehicle so that air hit him as he worked. The door was kept open so birdsong and other summer sounds could be heard throughout the day, but today it served only the purpose of letting the sound of rain pouring down from the heavens be heard.

It was misty and cool because of the rain but still just hot enough, and she sat quietly in her chair as she read a book, sneaking glances at him whenever he slid out from under the automobile to grab some new tool and then disappear back beneath it's artificial belly. He was so handsome in a wife beater that was just tight enough to show off the toned muscles beneath, and the tattoo he had gotten a few months ago was seen clearly on his exposed shoulder.

She smiled to herself and went back to her book, secretly loving the smell of gasoline and grease that always permeated the air when he worked on her car. It clung to his skin and clothes by the time he was done but it created a unique scent when coupled with the cologne he wore on some occasions. It was intoxicating and she always associated it with the summer time; there was just something that wasn't the same about it when he worked during the fall or winter.

The sound of him sliding out once again made her look up curiously to see him standing up, bending a little to pop his back before he began wiping his hands meticulously on his handkerchief. Grease and oil covered parts of his face and shirt.

"Well?" Gwen asked with one eyebrow raised, noting how even in such a messy state he could still be so appealing.

"Good as new." he said lightly, tossing the kerchief onto a nearby table covered in scattered tools. He walked over to her and placed one hand on his hip, using the other to scratch at the back of his neck. "You plan this, don't you?"

"Excuse me?" she said in slight surprise as she marked the book and closed it. She set it aside and looked up at him.

"It's just...well, you have more car trouble than anyone I've ever met. And that doesn't make sense." he explained, attempting to rub some of the oil from his cheek as she stood up in front of him. She pushed his hand away and he gave her a look.

"Don't. I like it." she told him seriously, and he smirked and shook his head as if he thought she were insane.

"Don't change the subject." he threatened, amused.

"I wasn't." Gwen huffed, pushing away a stray strand of hair that had fallen from her ponytail to hang annoyingly in her face. Kevin pushed her hand away before she could tuck it safely behind her ear, and the lock fell back in front of her face and swayed there. She frowned.

"Don't." he said. "I like it."

"Now who's changing the subject?" she muttered, though her tone was light.

"You mess your car up on purpose, don't you?"

"What?! That's ridiculous!" she gasped, and she couldn't help the very slight flush that bloomed on her cheeks. He cocked a brow knowingly and she cleared her throat, walking past him and absently picking up one of the grease covered tools from the table and appearing to clean it with his cloth. It was quiet for a moment or two, then she felt his body heat behind her and one of his hands moved around her petite form and forced her to put the objects down.

"Gwen..." he mumbled in a patronizing way. She took a breath and whipped around, feeling utterly humiliated at being caught.

"Okay! So I've sabatoged by own car a few times so I could watch you work! Is it a crime to think your boyfriend's hot when he works!?" she exploded, trying her damnedest not to meet his dark earthen eyes. Surely he would be disgusted with her for such a thing.

But when she finally forced herself to be brave and look up, she found him practically grinning from ear to ear before he burst into deep laughter that forced him to grab his sides. Cheeks flaming in even more embarrassment, she shoved him hard in the chest and tried to move past him, but a strong and calloused hand grabbed her upper arm.

"Gwen..." he managed to get out, the chuckles finally dying down. "Gwen, wait."

"What?" she snapped, jerking her arm free of his grasp.

"Don't be mad. I think it's..." he paused momentarily and thought hard, then smiled at her in an uncomfortable sort of way. "Well, I never thought I'd be using this word but...c_ute_."

She gaped at him momentarily.

"Don't tell Ben I said that." Kevin added quickly, looking dead serious. She shut her mouth and studied him for a bit, glad that the heat of embarrassment was at last fading from her features.

"You...aren't mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad?" he inquired with a smirk still on his face.

"Uh...I don't know. Because I've wasted many hours of your valuable time just because I wanted to watch you work up a sweat?" she answered, just a little exasperated that he wasn't taking this in the way she'd expected. The boy snorted.

"Please, Gwen. Do you actually think I have anything better to do than spend time with you? I have no college degree and work in a dinky little auto-shop."

"You _could _have a college degree, you're smarter than you give yourself credit for." she murmured, moving closer to him and placing her hands on his broad shoulders. He wrapped one arm around her waist as he rolled his eyes.

"Alien smarts won't do good in Physics class."

"Kevin..." she berated, giving him a disapproving look. He shrugged.

"It's the truth. How could--"

He was silenced very abruptly by a pair of soft lips pressing hard against his own, and he stumbled backwards in shock and felt the back of his knees hit the front of her car. Making a sound of pleasure in the back of his throat, he pulled her against him and kissed her back with as much force as he laid back on the hood. It was some time before they pulled away, breathing fast.

"That was..." he trailed off breathlessly, keeping his arm firmly around her waist as the other supported their weight on the hood. "What was that for?"

"To make you shut up. I'm tired of hearing it."

Kevin grinned.

"Isn't this a little backwards though? Shouldn't _you _be the one on the hood?" he asked suggestively, and she punched him harmlessly on the arm for his smugness, which only made him laugh.

"You know," she said after a while. "I think you should wear car grease more often."

She wiped her thumb across his cheek and removed part of the smudge there.

"I bet you would look good in it." he told her, and proceeded to run the fingers of his right hand on her cheek, leaving a big line of the dark substance on the slightly freckled skin.

"Don't get your hopes up, I'm no car expert." she warned him, laughing.

"What if I taught you?"

"What?"

"I'm serious, Gwen. I'll get the most banged up piece of shit car I can find and we'll fix it up together, just you and me. What do you say to that?"

"I don't know..." she said, looking a little wary at the idea.

"Come on, it'll be great. You get to see me...how did you say it? 'Work up a sweat', and I get to see you covered in car grease. Everybody wins."

"I...okay." Gwen responded after only a moments thought, and Kevin grinned again and pressed his lips against hers for another long period of time as the rain continued to pour down outside the stuffy little garage. When they finally pulled away, she just had to ask him.

"Who gets the car?"

**x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x**

**Yep. I don't know. Don't ask me what Kevin's tattoo is, I don't even know, the point is just that he has one. Something badass and SO Kevin I guess. XD They are probably in their early 20s in this. Please RxR.  
**


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